BRENDAN Byrne got a gold watch from Semperit last month for 20 years' service and was photographed with about 40 other workers who joined the Ballyfermot tyre plant with him in 1976.

That photograph will not join those of other workers who have received such service awards. Their photographs hang in a corridor in the plant jokingly referred to as the Hall of Shame.

The last of Semperit's 650 workers will clock out this afternoon, completing the phased shutdown which was announced in mid September after months of uncertainty.

Brendan (45), a father of four from Walkinstown, ended his last 12 hour shift in the tyre room at 8a.m. on Thursday. He says there wasn't much work done during that shift. The workers mostly sat in the canteen and reminisced.

As he left the plant, he thought: "I am now unemployed".

"It was a strange feeling," he says. "It'll be hard not going to work. It'll be hard waking up and realising there's no job to go to."

While workers had two months to come to terms with the closure, Brendan says the end still came as a blow to them.

"It was like somebody dying from a long illness. You know they are going to die but when they do it's still a shock to you," he says.

Also a shock is the realisation that he is one of some 600 non skilled and semi skilled ex Semperit workers who will be competing with each other for jobs. The specialised skills acquired in the company are unlikely to be of much value in finding other jobs.

Brendan, who has had just one week of unemployment in his life, will start looking for work on Monday. He says he would prefer labouring or truck driving and would consider re training.

If he finds a job, he knows the pay is unlikely to be as good as in Semperit where the basic weekly wage for shift workers was around £370 before tax.

Semperit's workers take with them a redundancy package of £23.5 million consisting of five weeks' pay for each year of service. This averages at about £30,000 per worker. About 17 workers will receive more than £80,000. Over half will receive £20,000.

Workers have been bombarded with financial advice on how to invest their redundancy money.

One worker, among those who took voluntary redundancy since mid September, handed £5,000 to the bar tender in a local pub and said: "Tell me when I drink that".

With children aged 10, 17, 18 and 20, and a wife who doesn't work outside the home, Brendan will not be reckless with his lump sum. They plan to buy out their three bedroom house.

His son Tony (20), who worked in Semperit as an apprentice electrician for two years, is completing his apprenticeship in another company.

Brendan says there will have to be some "belt tightening". His wife Martha (44) says they'll have to think twice about spending money on small luxuries they used to take for granted.

But the loss is not solely financial. Brendan loved working at the plant where work practices were progressive and relations between unions and management were very good.

Many workers feel they sacrificed a lot to keep their jobs by relinquishing floating holidays and giving over to the company a 15 per cent pay rise over the past two years. A job in Semperit was seen as one for life and many workers had a deep allegiance to the company. "Semperit gave me 20 good years but I also gave them 20 good years. We both were good to each other. We gained from each other," says Brendan.

Martha says she will miss the social side of the job: the annual trip to the Gaiety Christmas pantomime and parties for the children.

Brendan keeps his company watch in its navy box. His name is engraved on the back. He wears it sometimes, he says.