PACKARD ELECTRIC employees began working a shorter week yesterday in protest at what they see as the company's breach of a bonus agreement.
The workers at the plant in Tallaght, co Dublin, decided before Christmas to return to a flat 39 hour week from the beginning of January. They voted by a margin of 308 to 25 not to work any overtime from that date.
According to Mr Brendan Byrne of SIPTU employees had been working a 41 hour week and overtime. As the dispute over a claimed breach of the bonus agreement had gone on since October, the workers were balloted.
"There is now an unofficial standoff", Mr Byrne said, and the union was waiting for a response from management, to whom they last spoke before Christmas.
This time last year 850 people were employed at the Packard plant. Now 400 people have jobs there, although most were laid off for a week before the holiday because of a drop in demand for car parts from Vauxhall, for which Packard provides wiring harnesses.