Management at Boliden Tara Mines have said they will press ahead with their plan to place the operation in “care and maintenance” in mid-July with the temporary loss of up to 800 jobs.
Representatives of the roughly 650 directly employed workers expect to meet the company again on Thursday but the talks are now likely to focus on how many staff will be retained during the closure to safely maintain the facility and the establishment of a mechanism to trigger its reopening after the Swedish-owned firm said the cost saving measures proposed by the three unions were not enough to prompt a reversal of its original announcement.
The company said on Wednesday it had had engaged positively with the three unions involved, Siptu, Unite and Connect but that their proposals regarding alternative cost saving measures were not sufficient in the circumstances and so “the decision to temporarily suspend operations and place the mine into care and maintenance from mid-July is unavoidable”.
In the statement, the mine’s General Manager, Gunnar Nystrom, said the company had not “taken this decision lightly, but we believe this is the best course of action to safeguard the long-term future of the mine. We will continue to work constructively with all stakeholders to ensure the operation can reopen as soon as possible.”
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Many workers are understood to have been informed of the company’s decision while a meeting on Wednesday with the unions was still in progress.
Having been told the company would proceed with the closure, the unions were seeking clarification on a range of issues and changes to a number of points put forward by the company in its plan.
In it, a total of 40 full-time equivalent jobs are to be retained during the shutdown, a number the union says falls far short of the figure when the mine last ceased production.
The unions also want the company to identify the conditions – primarily the combined level of improved zinc prices and reduced electricity prices that can be expected to trigger a reopening.
“We have made it clear to the company that our members will not be leaving the mine until there is a satisfactory agreement on these issues,” said Siptu’s Adrian Kane.
The unions say they will also be pressing Government to maximise available supports for the affected workers and their families.
Responding to the news, Minister for Enterprise, Simon Coveney said it was “a difficult day” for all of the affected staff, contractors and families.
He said a number of Government departments would work together to support the affected communities and individuals while “officials in my Department and Enterprise Ireland continue to engage with the company to discuss what assistance could be provided to the company to introduce efficiencies and reduce costs including energy costs within state aid parameters”.
Labour Party enterprise spokesperson, Ged Nash, called on Mr Coveney to disclose what supports had been offered by Government to the company since the original announcement in an effort to avoid the closure.
The Taoiseach had suggested at the time that help with electricity costs could be made available.
“The union’s proposals were also grounded in the assumption that Government supports were being worked on,” he said.
“Where are those proposals from Government, and were they ever formally made in the first place? Government owes it to the workers at Tara Mines to fully disclose the level and range of supports they were prepared to provide to the company.”
