Up to 200 IFI jobs at risk, says union
SIPTU national industrial secretary Noel Dowling said he had been advised by IFI management that there may be a total closure of the Marino Point plant. Last June the firm said it intended to close the plant for three months due to a glut in the European fertiliser market.
Mr Dowling said the company “had been talking about a three-month shutdown from next January to March, but that was in the hope they could put a plan together”.
He added: “We have only recently been advised of the possibility of a total closure of the Cork plant.”
Unions hope the company’s plants in Arklow and Belfast, which employ more than 400 people, may be saved. But the picture is gloomy for Cork workers.
“Marino Point looks the most vulnerable, especially in terms of making ammonia from gas which is very expensive,” Mr Dowling said.
Demand across Europe has fallen by more than 10% in the past two years and the price of natural gas, which is used in the manufacture of ammonia, peaks in the first three months of the year. Mr Dowling said SIPTU had contacted the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment in the hope of saving as many jobs at the plant as possible.
“If the Cork plant closes our objectives will be to make sure the severance and redundancy terms agreed with the company are honoured,” Mr Dowling said.
He said workers at the plant, which started fertiliser production in 1979, would be seeking five-and-a-half weeks pay per year of employment plus statutory redundancy.
An IFI spokesman said the company had been experiencing difficulties in the fertiliser market.
“The company is looking at a number of options. No decision has yet been made,” he said.
“Decisions will be made in due course which will then be communicated to unions and staff.”
