Waterford Crystal is expected to end months of speculation today with the announcement that its Dungarvan plant is to close with the loss of 400 jobs.
A smaller number of job cuts are also expected at the company's flagship plant in Waterford city, which currently has nearly 1,100 employees.
Workers at both plants were bracing themselves for confirmation of the news last night after the company called general staff meetings for today.
Employees of the Dungarvan factory, which has been the subject of intense speculation about its future since last year, will learn their fate at a meeting in the town at 10am.
The general meeting of workers at the Kilbarry plant in Waterford city is to take place this afternoon.
A company spokesman declined to comment yesterday on local reports that the Dungarvan factory is to close, having operated for just over three decades. "We don't comment on speculation," he said.
Local sources insisted, however, that the financially troubled company would not have called general meetings unless it had a very significant announcement to make.
Walter Cullen of the ATGWU, which represents about 1,100 of the company's workers, said the union had not been informed of any decision.
"It is outrageous that our members are listening to speculation about the future of the Dungarvan plant before the company has conveyed any of its plans to the workers or the union. That is unacceptable," he said.
Fears for the company's future operations have been growing since last September when employees at both plants were placed on short-time working.
The move followed a three-year decline in the company's profits, which has continued. The firm has been badly hit by the sharp decline in the value of the dollar, as well as falling sales in the United States.
Workers at the two plants have not received pay increases due under Sustaining Progress and have co-operated with a series of cost-cutting measures in recent years.
The company said the short-time working would enable it to reduce inventories and re-establish balance between supply and demand.
In March, however, parent company Waterford Wedgwood issued a profit warning, announcing that total sales for the year to March 31st were likely to be down 6 per cent.
As a result, financial results for the year would be below current market expectations, it said.
Speculation about the future of the Dungarvan plant has centred on the company's failure to carry out an overdue refurbishment of the factory's furnace.
It is anticipated, however, that efficiencies will also be sought at the Waterford city plant, resulting in limited job losses.
There was strong political reaction to news of the expected job cuts. Senator Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fáil) said closure of the Dungarvan plant would be a "huge blow".
Dungarvan-based Fine Gael TD John Deasy said he had been speaking to a number of workers and they were expecting the worst.
