The strike at Guinness Ireland has been suspended. The announcement followed talks at the Labour Relations Commission which ended this evening. The closure of the Dundalk packaging plant at the centre of the row has been deferred from 27 April, and as a result pickets are to be lifted immediately.
Discussions on the future of the plant are to begin early next week, and a date for the conclusion of the negotiations will be determined by the Labour Relations Commission and accepted by both sides. The Commission's chief executive Kieran Mulvey said that there would also be negotiation on Guinness's broader business development plans. Five of the six Guinness unions are to ballot immediately on the proposals.
Meanwhile, shares in Guinness's parent company, Diageo, have fallen at the end of the first day of strike action at the brewery's plants around the country. Diageo shares closed down almost 1% on the London Stock exchange this evening.
This afternoon's conciliation talks at the Labour Relations Commission got underway shortly after 2pm. Despite the breakdown of negotiations on Tuesday, LRC chief executive, Kieran Mulvey, was hopeful that enough was achieved during those talks to develop a formula which could defuse this strike.
