Supplies of Guinness, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Smithwicks and Harp could be in short supply before the end of the month if a strike by 2,000 employees of Guinness Ireland Group goes ahead next week. The brands account for more than half of all beer sales in the Republic.
The strike is due to start on Holy Thursday, and a spokesman for the company predicted last night that supplies would run out "fairly quickly". The stoppage would also mean a halt to Guinness exports to continental Europe and North America, although the London-based Park Royal brewery could probably cope with British demand.
The dispute is over plans by Guinness Ireland to close its Dundalk packaging plant with the loss of 140 jobs. The facility is being run down as part of a rationalisation programme to concentrate canning and bottling operations in the smaller Belfast plant and a larger plant in Runcorn in England.
The Guinness Joint Union Forum (JUF) wants to refer the dispute to the Labour Court, but the company says it is only willing to do so if the JUF can produce "justifiable reasons" for further delaying a closure originally planned for last July.
Guinness workers are divided in their approach to the dispute. On Tuesday members of the largest single union, the Guinness Staff Union, voted by 87 per cent against strike action, but a majority in the unions affiliated to the JUF voted yesterday for strike action.
The chairman of the JUF, Mr Brendan Hodgers of the ATGWU, said the company see med intent on closing the Dundalk plant, although a report by Clanwilliam Consultants for the JUF showed it was more viable than the Belfast plant.
"I believe our colleagues in Belfast won't survive long anyway and the Runcorn plant will be the preferred long-term option of the company," he said.
A SIPTU branch secretary, Mr John King, said that when comparative costings were done for Dundalk and Belfast an artificially high exchange rate of 88p was set for the Irish pound, wage costs were based on artificially higher staffing levels for Dundalk and the cost of distributing goods from Belfast was underestimated.
"Either the Guinness figures are right or the Clanwilliam figures are right," he said. "We believe the company should exhaust the negotiating procedures by going to the Labour Court and letting it examine the findings."
However, the company rejects the JUF figures. A company spokesman, Mr Pat Barry, said the holding company, Diageo, had used an exchange rate of 82.5p sterling in its analysis, which was based on strategic plan exchange rates varying from 79p to 88p. He also said all factors were taken into account.
There was an oversupply problem, which meant only one packaging plant was needed "on the island of Ireland". Closing Dundalk would bring annual savings of £8.4 million, compared with only £4.9 million if Belfast was closed.
Meanwhile SIPTU has appealed to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, to prevent the closure of the Dundalk plant.
The union's regional secretary, Mr Jack Nash, reiterated the JUF contention that Guinness Group costings were "seriously flawed" and the Government had been misled in a company presentation. The company said an error in that presentation had not affected the overall conclusions and the Government had been advised of the error.