Waterford Crystal plants face shutdown

MORE THAN 1,600 workers at the country’s leading crystal manufacturing plant face the prospect of four shutdowns over the coming months, as well as temporary job cuts.

Staff at Waterford Crystal’s plants in Dungarvan and Kilbarry are also opting out of long-awaited pay increases, as demand for its products plummets.

The firm is to lay off its entire workforce for a week in June. Up to 100 of the company’s 200 workers will lose their jobs as part of a major rationalisation programme being negotiated between company management and the workers’ union, the ATGWU.