Lump sums of between £37,000 and £135,000 will be paid to workers as part of a redundancy package by Guinness Ireland to close its Dundalk packaging plant. The 140 workers concerned will also be entitled to pensions based on years of service.
They voted by 70 per cent to accept the terms at an emotional meeting in Dundalk yesterday. The chairman of the Guinness trade union forum, Mr Brendan Hodgers of the ATGWU, said most of the workforce believed the plant should not have closed.
"It was a very lucrative redundancy package but people would have preferred to keep their jobs. It is no more than the workers deserved."
SIPTU branch secretary Mr John King said: "Despite being a very good package it was difficult to sell to employees because they believed the plant should stay open."
He said it "sent a very clear message to Diageo that we expect people to be treated decently" if plants were closed.
Guinness workers elsewhere had threatened industrial action in support of the Dundalk plant because of fears that further redundancies might be sought.
The package agreed at Dundalk provides for workers aged 52 or over to have up to 10 years' service added to their existing entitlements to obtain full pensions at 62. This is the normal retirement age with the company.
Workers aged 45 to 50 will not receive added years but will receive lump sums of up to £80,000.
Younger workers will receive lump sums of between £37,000 and £135,000, as well as pensions at 62 based on service. Many younger employees would have up to 25 years' service.