Killarney hopes Liebherr's investment is too big to fail

Almost as much as that venerable landmark Ross Castle, Liebherr has become iconic to Killarney, as well as being a national flagship industry.

This dispute is about much more than the jobs of the 670 people employed in the huge crane factory: At least as many more jobs in smaller companies, suppliers of various services, and several other businesses depend on Liebherr.

It is far and away the largest industry in Killarney, apart from tourism, so this huge dependence on the Switzerland-based multinational would make its departure from the beauty spot apocalyptic in economic terms locally.

A thinly veiled threat by the company just before Christmas, that it could pull out of the area, where it has been since 1958, sent shudders through the wider community. Most business and community leaders have refrained from public comment for fear of exacerbating a most sensitive situation.

It was the most hardline statement yet from the company. And what may have contributed to top management’s tough stance is that Siptu decided to hold a one-day strike at the plant at a time when senior Liebherr executives from other countries were visiting Killarney.

Notwithstanding the threat to “re-evaluate’’ its dependency on the Killarney plant, there was another critical line in the statement saying the company had already begun to send work from Killarney to some of its other plants in Europe.

In the past two years, 150 extra people have been employed by the company in Killarney, and the workforce has never been as large as it is now. As well as that, a massive new production hall — costing €30m and the size of two football pitches — has just been built.

Employees are on shift work and the factory has never been busier. Its high-quality cranes are in demand in ports around the world and the company regularly holds off competition from Chinese manufacturers with far lower costs.

Given all that — coupled with Liebherr’s long association with Killarney and its colossal investment in the plant (as well in three top-class hotels locally) — it’s hard to envisage a complete withdrawal from the area.

However, if the company decides to scale down and direct more work to its other plants, chiefly in Germany, there could be obvious repercussions for employment and possible future expansion in Killarney. That’s a worry for many people.

Like all disputes, there are at least two sides to the story and all the issues rarely come into the public domain. Workers claim a new plan by the company will diminish their conditions and result in bonus and overtime losses of up to €200 per week. There is also opposition to a compulsory holiday closedown in August.

In time-honoured industrial relations tradition, the issues will (at least Killarney and Kerry is hoping) eventually be resolved by sensible, reasonable people sitting around a table well away from the public glare.