THE WORKFORCE of a manufacturing company in Westmeath has been presented with a survival plan which would see the retention of the majority of the 420 jobs there. They also heard that the plan included a number of redundancies as a way to improve efficiencies.
Almost all the staff of Iralco attended a two-hour consultation meeting yesterday.
Staff were informed of a series of changes to internal procedures that were deemed necessary in order for the company to survive and develop.
Tom Hyland, spokesman for CF Automotive, one of the companies owned by John Flaherty who proposes to buy Iralco, said: "There will be a level of redundancies, there's obviously efficiency to be achieved."
He said it would be inappropriate to comment on how many and under what conditions.
"There is a voluntary offer on the table and we would hope that the voluntary offer would achieve the targets."
Iralco, which has been in liquidation since April, produces high-quality, decorative trims for the car industry.
John Flaherty of CF Tooling was reluctant to make any comment regarding the meeting, saying he did not want to pre-empt any decision made by workers, who will vote on the proposals in the coming days.
He said he would be available to staff during all four shifts on Monday to answer any queries they might have.
Joe Hanley, adviser to CF, said: "The workforce had a very frank and open discussion with us afterwards and they have been given an explanatory statement outlining what's involved."
Labour TD Willie Penrose, who attended the meeting, said: "Last April we were looking at a very serious situation with over 400 jobs to be lost.
"Now there is an opportunity to secure the majority of the jobs but there are issues which workers will have to reflect on over the next 48 hours."
Results of the employee vote will be announced on Thursday.