Waterford Crystal to Cut More Jobs in Face of Troubled Irish Economy

Waterford Crystal, Irish icon fighting a long struggle for survival, plans to cut most of its remaining Irish work force and produce the bulk of its hand-cut glassware overseas, employees and union reps said recently. The Dublin-based company confirmed it plans to open negotiations to lay off more of its Irish work force but declined to discuss specific figures or confirm whether its Irish operation would continue manufacturing or become exclusively focused on tourism. Several workers departing the plant's flagship crystal works in Waterford, said union ward leaders had informed them that the company wants to cut 230 more workers from the payroll in talks scheduled to start soon. That would come on top of 490 job cuts already confirmed in Nov., and leave one of Ireland's highest-profile products with just 125 workers in Waterford. That figure would include about 70 glass cutters and manufacturing supervisors and 55 tour guides and other tourism center workers. The factory remains one of Ireland's top tourist attractions, with about 300,000 visitors annually. But profits of Irish-produced, hand-cut crystal have taken a hammering since 2002 due to changing consumer tastes, cheaper competition in Eastern Europe and Asia, and the weak U.S. dollar. The recent warnings of more imminent job losses followed an extraordinary general meeting in Dublin involving key shareholders of Waterford Wedgwood PLC. They approved the latest in a series of new stock issues. Many Waterford-branded sets of lead crystal and glassware already are produced by subcontractors in Eastern Europe and Brazil, while Wedgwood-branded ceramics and china increasingly are produced in Indonesia. The company's been considering whether to reduce the Waterford operation to a tourism-only site since the Irish government rejected its emergency assistance appeal in May. Waterford Wedgwood had asked the government to serve as its guarantor for new bank loans. But the government refused, fearing taxpayers could end up assuming responsibility for more bailouts, and, eventually, workers' layoffs and pensions.