Tara mines workers, navan town council, tara mines navan, SIPTU, labour court

Tara mines workers, navan town council, tara mines navan, SIPTU, labour court

Navan Town Councillors have voted to unanimously condemn the Tara Mines decision to issue protective notice to its 670 workers. And today it is reported that The Labour Court is to meet with unions and management.

At a meeting of the council on Monday night, councillors called on the company to drop the threat of protective notice, honour existing wage agreement and engage in meaningful negotiations with the unions and the workers.

Boliden, the Swedish multinational which owns Tara Mines, has been accused of attempting to drive down wages and working conditions for its Irish workforce, even though it remains a profitable company.

The 670 workers were placed on protective notice last Thursday ahead of a meeting with the SIPTU trade union last Friday. The company is seeking a 10 per cent pay cut, reduced overtime and 25 redundancies through early retirement.

A spokesperson for the company said this week that the move came because of the uncertainty surrounding the achievement of the company's targets for 2013.

He said the company was keen to secure jobs at the mine for as long as possible, but to do that, it had to reduce costs. The deeper the mine gets, the harder and more costly ore is to mine.

Unions at the mine have condemned the move as unacceptabl .

SIPTU organiser John Regan said the Tara Mines' workers signed a two-year agreement with management in July last year which, he claimed, the company was now seeking to tear up.

"Even though the company is profitable, management is seeking reductions in workers' pay, bonuses, overtime premiums, and lower rates of pay for new employees," said Mr Regan. "Pre-tax profits for the firm that operates Tara Mines were €28 million in the 12 months until December last year," he pointed out.