Brewery workers vote on offer

WORKERS in Beamish & Crawford’s new €7m bottling plant looking for a €170 pay rise are voting this week on a Labour Court recommended increase of €77 a week.

The new plant where Beamish, Miller Genuine Draft, Fosters, Carling, Holsten, Tennants and Bass is bottled for the Irish market is expected to increase the line's productivity threefold, from 170 bottles per minute to 500 bottles per minute. Manning levels are to fall from ten workers to six.

The company is also seeking flexibility from the six remaining workers in terms of holiday, break and sickness cover, with a new starting time of 7.30am, instead of the current 8am.