UNIONS at Packard continued to insist last night that jobs at the plant could be saved, while bitterly criticising the company's failure to share details of the economic analysis which informed the decision to close.
Representatives of Packard management apologised for the way news of the closure had leaked but insisted the decision was inevitable given the realities of the market. The company is willing to help the Government find "other options" for the plant.
The unions' request for details of the company's analysis came during what they described as an "acrimonious" meeting with management yesterday afternoon.
"They made it very clear to us that their decision was based on their own detailed economic analysis," said Mr Liam Berney of the ATGWU. "But when we asked them to share the analysis with us they gave us a categorical no.
At a press conference yesterday evening, however, the director of human resources for Packard Europe said the information could not be shared because of the need for "customer confidentiality" and because it would "endanger the further operations of Packard".
Apologising for the way news of the closure had emerged, Mr Jose Couto added that economic realities had made the decision inevitable and the plant would probably have closed even had the workers not rejected a major cost cutting package in December 1994.
It was not a case of strident unions against a ruthless company, he went on. "Both were victims of a ruthless market, which is going through a terrible process of restructuring at the moment. The forces which are driving this decision are beyond the control of the company and they're beyond the control of the Irish Government."
Costs in Tallaght were about 25 per cent higher than in their other European plants, he said. "The plant was uncompetitive and becoming more so and, with the new prices planned for future projects, the costs here would have been even higher."
The company confirmed work from the Tallaght plant would be diverted elsewhere in Europe, but would not say where. It also declined to estimate how much it would save from the closure of the Irish plant.
Leaving the press conference, the managing director of the Tallaght plant, Mr Carlos Ferreira, said Packard was willing to consider "other options for the plant". But he clarified this to mean that the company would help the Government in finding other options.
Replying to a question about the "poisonous" industrial relations atmosphere in Packard, the Tallaght personnel manager, Mr Jim Dolan, said the relationship between management and staff at the plant was "not as bad as you might believe". Asked if Packard's parent company, General Motors, would have preferred a non union plant, he said "We are Packard Europe we're a separate entity from General Motors. The plant is unionised, there's not a lot we can do about that. But as personnel manager, I've had a reasonable relationship with the union."
Asked if the company had in fact been trying to close the plant for some time, Mr Couto said. "No. There was no secret agenda to close the plant. We tried everything we could to save it."
