Concern over future of plant

CONCERN has been expressed about the future of Waterford Crystal’s Dungarvan operation and its 330 employees.

Yesterday, 1,400 Waterford Crystal workers started another week-long production break at the company’s Waterford and Dungarvan plants. It is the fifth week off for staff since last November, after an escalation in trading difficulties, particularly in the US market.

The move encountered strong trade union opposition initially, but was implemented after management refused to budge on the measure.

While this week’s lay-off is meant to be the final one in the foreseeable future at least, workers in the Waterford and Dungarvan plants are not particularly optimistic.

And with a deafening silence from management concerning the crucial need for investment in Dungarvan, the workers there are becoming increasingly concerned about the future of the plant.

The tank furnace, which is central to the production operation in Dungarvan, is in need of an overhaul that includes replacing the electrodes which melt down the raw materials into glass.

The tank is now 15 years old and the cost of upgrading it is estimated at €3m.

While work on the furnace is scheduled to be completed next July, the company has yet to give the go-ahead for an expenditure in the region of €600,000 on materials.

“That is our real worry,” said one member of staff who has been employed at the Dungarvan plant since it was opened by the late Taoiseach Jack Lynch in 1972.

“We aren’t being told anything by the company, and it is this deafening silence that is creating so much concern about our long term future,” he said. “Rumours are flying around the place at a rate of knots, everyone is understandably worried.”

Employment numbers at the plant in Dungarvan have fallen substantially over recent years. At its peak, there were over 500 staff on the payroll but that is now down to about 330.

Over the last two years, almost 120 temporary contract workers have been made redundant. There have also been significant job losses at the Waterford Crystal headquarters at Kilbarry.

In the halcyon days, the company’s total workforce between the two plants topped 3,300 but the decline in those numbers has been ongoing for some considerable time.

Overall, sales were reported to have been good in the last two months of 2004, but then came the inevitable fall-off during January and February, which are traditionally the company’s slackest sales months.

A significant pick-up is expected, but notwithstanding that, the Dungarvan workers are becoming increasingly worried about their future.

Last week, the company’s chief financial officer departed after just one year in the post, and many workers consider this to be another worry.

“We see it as a very definite telltale sign,” another member of staff in the Dungarvan plant said.

“If only management would talk to us and let us know what is really happening.”