Tara Mines has rejected claims by SIPTU that it has recruited 24 Norwegian contract miners and is in breach of the agreement reached with unions last February to avert closure of its Navan plant. The company says that only three Norwegian drillers were deployed at the mine last Tuesday and that the other 21 contract miners were Canadians who had been working at Tara for some time.
SIPTU miners held an underground occupation of the mine in protest at the use of the new Norwegian drillers. The union claimed the use of contract labourers after September 30th was a clear breach of the February agreement.
The company says the phase-out process was based on achieving certain recruitment and performance targets, neither of which had been met.
Instead of 235 to 250 permanent operatives there were only 229. Contractor miners were still needed to maintain production levels.