Workers at Thermo King's Galway plant are meeting this morning to decide whether to accept settlement terms aimed at averting tomorrow's threatened closure.
Closure would cost the local economy £25 million a year and lead to the loss of 630 jobs at the company. Another 600 people are employed by local suppliers and service providers.
The company has already put in place contingency plans to divert orders to other plants, should the 457 Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union members involved in the week-long dispute over short-term working decide to reject the proposals. These were brokered by the chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, Mr Kieran Mulvey, in talks that lasted from early Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon. He was assisted by Mr Damien Cannon of the LRC.
The company team, headed by Mr David Coughlan of Thermo King Europe's headquarters in Brussels, accepted Mr Mulvey's final draft about midday on Saturday. But it was not until 5 p.m. that AEEU representatives agreed to accept the terms and recommend them to members at this morning's meeting.
Union sources were reluctant to comment ahead of this meeting. A senior shop steward, Mr John Carty, said members might find "a lot that will be hard to swallow", but he added that Mr Mulvey's commitment to have the operation of the agreement monitored by the LRC was an important step forward.
The AEEU regional officer, Mr Tony Geoghegan, said that the negotiators were faced with "acceptance of the proposals or closure of the factory. That was brought home to us clearly, both by the company and by Kieran Mulvey, and we want people to be very clear on that". He urged the workforce to "look forward" and use the opportunity to secure the future of the plant.
The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, also urged the workers to accept the proposals and thanked Mr Mulvey for his efforts.
The company has already accepted the terms. These require the workers to operate within procedures, follow supervisors' instructions in full, and accept criteria set by the company at group level for meeting business performance objectives in return for a 4.5 per cent bonus.
The settlement proposals also address a major company concern that productivity norms, which it says were "bought and paid for" several years ago, are now met. These include a personal rate of performance by employees that is at least 87.5 per cent of "the normal workday".
The agreement also requires "maximum utilisation of tools and equipment", the operation of multiple machines by one operative and co-operation with computerised equipment.
Control of production at shop floor level, rather than pay, is the central issue addressed in the LRC's proposals. Indeed pay rates have not featured as an issue in this dispute, which started over the introduction of a four-day week because of a fall-off in demand for the refrigerated trailer units produced at the plant. General operatives can expect to earn up to £19,000 a year and higher grades significantly more.