THE SURVIVAL plan at troubled diamond manufacturer Element Six contains a pay freeze for all staff until the end of 2011 and a pay cut above a certain threshold for all management grades.
In the rescue plan seen by The Irish Times, company management is also proposing that the firm receive €1.5 million in various aids from Government.
Local management is also proposing to sell 16 of the company’s 22 acres at the Shannon Free Zone. In the sell-off, Element Six is proposing that one of the two sites be used as a combined heat power plant.
Management put forward the plan to unions at a private meeting last week. However, unions will not engage with the company on the plan – aiming to save 163 of the original 370 jobs earmarked for redundancy – until the company increases its redundancy deal for the 207 people to be let go.
The two sides have agreed to third-party talks in a bid to overcome the impasse against the background of unions at the plant last Friday voting in favour of industrial action.
On Monday, in a letter to workers, chief executive Cyrus Jilla warned that if there was no engagement in a third-party process to reach a resolution in a couple of weeks the company may proceed with the closure of manufacturing with the loss of 370 jobs.
If both sides can resolve their differences over the redundancy deal management and unions will discuss the rescue plan which will require workers who remain to accept the elimination of existing allowances.
The survival plan states that there will be an elimination of transport and other outdated allowances and existing shift payments to be replaced by an unsocial hours premium of 15 per cent.
In the Government aid that will be sought Element Six is hoping to draw down €800,000 in training and upskilling grants; the newly- introduced wage subsidy of €500,000; and a €200,000 salary saving in development and innovation aid. The site at Shannon is to be reduced from 22 acres to six acres, and the building area is to be reduced from 40,000sq m (430,556sq ft) to 17,000sq m (182,986sq ft).
