Workers at Irish Ispat in Cork - formerly Irish Steel - are meeting today to discuss what action to take in response to the company’s announcement yesterday that the plant in Haulbowline is to close with the loss of 400 jobs.
SIPTU, which represents 250 of the 400 employees concerned, says it does not accept the decision to close the plant is irreversible.
Earlier today, the union said that it hopod to continue cost cutting talks with company management aimed at reversing the closure decision.
Talks between management and workers ended abruptly yesterday afternoon when Irish Ispat said it had no other choice but to close the plant because it was losing £750,000 per month.
SIPTU, the main workers union, says that shutting down the plant is not inevitable and disputes management claims that the workers resisted cost saving measures.
SIPTU’s regional secretary, Mr Joe O'Flynn, said the unions had spent most of the week in discussions with the company and had offered savings worth £2.9 million over the next 21 months. The company was seeking immediate cost savings of £2.3 million.
The company - said to owe £36 million to its creditors - called for a creditors’ meeting to appoint a liquidator.
The factory was Irish Steel before it was bought by Ispat International for a nominal sum from the Government in 1996.
The company said it had invested nearly £24 million in the plant since the purchase and it had met all its commitments agreed at the time of the sale.
