Unions to meet management on return to work date at Tara Mines

The Group of Unions at Tara Mines will meet with management next week, ahead of a return to work at the mine, which has been closed for almost a year.

"We are meeting with management on Wednesday (13th June) and hope to identify a date for return to work and establish what interest there is in the voluntary redundancy package," according to SIPTU's John Regan.

Staff at Tara Mines voted in early May to accept a deal that will see work resume at the Navan site this summer.

The decision to return to production at Tara Mines was finalised when staff accepted a deal thrashed out at the WRC in April.

John Regan said the unions would be seeking to establish the process in which people will be released and how they will play a role in supporting the work of those who decide to remain in employment with the passing on of skills through a training programme - all of which were identified under the current agreement.

He explained that experienced workers taking voluntary redundancy would have to train up remaining workers to Miner One status to ensure that the mine doesn't lose skills required in both the short and long term.

"This meeting should be able to establish the full application of the current agreement and not just the voluntary severance pay term," he said.

He explained that workers should not be let go in advance of the call back to work of staff who are obviously committed to the plant.

"Workers should return to the mine before they are let go, both processes should work in parallel," he said.

It is believed that there have been more workers applying for the voluntary redundancy that the number of job losses sought by the company.

Workers point out that some staff may just be testing the water to see what they are worth, while others may have changed their minds in the meantime because of changing circumstances and that these issues will be discussed at next week's meeting.

It is understood the company sought 170 voluntary redundancies bringing the total staff headcount down to just over 400. The unions have secured redundancy terms of five weeks per year of service capped at two years, as well as core pay for the remaining workforce, with bonuses and other payments to be negotiated.

The new deal will also mean some work is outsourced.

The mines shut last July with the loss of 650 workers temporarily laid off. Approximately 50 workers then took early retirement with a number of others left permanently.

At that time Boliden said it took the decision to halt production and shutter the mine due to unsustainable losses and cited factors including a decline in the price of zinc, inflation and energy costs.

A spokesperson for Boliden Tara Mines said "We have and will continue to hold regular meetings with the Group of Unions as we prepare for a return to work. The voluntary redundancy process remains ongoing between the company and its employees."