Union leaders will tomorrow ask tennis-ball manufacturer Penn Racquet Sports to reverse the planned closure of its Irish factory, with 116 job losses.
SIPTU officials are to outline cost savings measures which they believe can guarantee the viability of the Mullingar, Co Westmeath, plant which at its height produced 80,000 tennis balls a day.
But they acknowledged that yesterday's announcement that production will transfer to a sister facility in Phoenix, Arizona, by March next, is likely to have been motivated by a desire to protect American jobs rather than pure economic necessity.
In a statement Penn, which opened in Mullingar in 1974, blamed the closure on a slump in tennis ball sales and competition from cheaper Far East rivals.
But last night SIPTU said the Mullingar plant could be kept open, pointing to a recent Labour Relations Commission (LRC) study which suggested the factory could be made viable in 2004.
With the US government pressurising manufacturers to safeguard domestic jobs, Penn Ireland may be a victim of its parent's determination to protect operations in Phoenix, said Mr Séamus McNamee, SIPTU branch secretary for Longford/Westmeath.
However, he acknowledged that Mullingar's prospects have been grim following the closure in March of its main supplier, Kilkenny-based Textech.
Since then, raw materials have been sourced at much greater expense from Maine in the US.
The loss of Penn would be a "huge blow" for Mullingar, Mr McNamee said.
"Many employees have been with Penn all their working lives. Others have young families and mortgages. This is devastating news for them," he said.
Industrial relations at the plant have been strained over recent years, with the LRC recently called to intervene in a pay dispute.
