Management at Cavan company Lagan Brick refused to attend a Labour Court hearing aimed at resolving a seven-month dispute over redundancies.
The matter was referred to the Labour Court by SIPTU - but the company said that it had not entered the Labour Court proceedings as it had fully met and exceeded its redundancy obligations.
The dispute arose last December when Lagan Brick moved to close its Kingscourt plant.
Management and SIPTU disagreed about the redundancy terms due to the workers.
Since December, the workers have protested outside the plant, effectively maintaining a blockade, which the company says has prevented it from selling the majority of its stocks of bricks inside the factory.
In the meantime, an independent assessor found that the company had unsustainable losses which justified the closure.
Lagan Brick said today that they had actively participated in Labour Relations Commission conciliation talks.
They said their latest redundancy offer exceeded statutory entitlements, exceeded the last redundancy terms accepted by workers on another Lagan Brick site in 2010 and matched the terms recently accepted by workers and SIPTU at Vita Cortex in Cork.
They described the offer rejected by SIPTU as equivalent to two years net pay for each worker and totalling over €1m.
They also said the employees had rejected a 10% pay cut last year which could have maintained jobs at the site.
However, SIPTU say the company's offer is inadequate and only amounts to part of a week per year of service in excess of statutory redundancy.
Union sources said a Labour Court recommendation is expected within days.
It will be binding on the union but not on the company.
