Trade union members in Bausch + Lomb in Waterford have mandated their negotiators to tell the company owners that under no circumstances will they accept the proposed 20% pay cuts.
At a mass meeting of workers today in the factory, attended by around 750 people, calls were made that SIPTU General President Jack O'Connor travel to Waterford to involve himself in the negotiations.
The company owner, Valeant, last week announced it wanted around 200 redundancies from the 1,100-strong workforce and payroll savings of 20% for the remaining 900 employees.
Talks began yesterday and trade union reps informed their members this afternoon of how the discussions were going.
It is understood of the 197 redundancies being sought, 135 SIPTU members may be directly affected, along with 18 fitters (members of the TEEU), with the remaining 44 being managers or non-union staff.
There has been no direct request from the trade union negotiators so far on alternative cost saving proposals, but figures have been attained from management on some costings.
There was strong criticism and anger at the mass meeting today of how the job losses and pay cut announcement was made, and also at how the Government has dealt with the matter so far.
There were also requests that the trade unions get senior accountants into the talks to have the cost savings comprehensively analysed.
The trade union negotiators are due to meet Valeant management tomorrow when the talks resume.
It is not yet known if Mr O'Connor or other senior SIPTU figures will be getting involved in the talks.
