Workers at Tara Mines have voted to accept a deal aimed at reopening the mine.
Counting of a ballot of workers began shortly after 10am at the Dan Shaw Centre in Navan, Co Meath this morning.
Around 600 workers were temporarily laid off last July after the mine was placed under care and maintenance.
Workers from all three unions at the mine – SIPTU, Unite and Connect – voted in favour of the deal brokered at the Workplace Relations Commission.
The deal is expected to see a phased reopening of the mine from June.
Unions said that the core pay and conditions of workers at the zinc mine outside Navan had been protected under the deal, however there were some losses.
Under the terms of the deal, the company Boliden is also seeking around 150 voluntary redundancies.
The deal was accepted by all three unions.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke welcomed the announcement that an agreement had been reached.
He said: “The closure of the mine since July last year has had a significant impact on workers and their families, and on the wider community in the region.
“I want to commend all parties for the efforts that they have made to ensure a positive outcome in difficult circumstances.”
Mr Burke said the Government would ensure all available supports are put in place for workers who choose to take voluntary redundancy, including supports for retraining and job search assistance.
“Tara Mines is a major employer operating in an important sector and the Government is committed to exploring the possibility of strategic supports to incentivise longer term investment by Boliden in Tara Mines,” he added.
In a statement, general manager of Tara Mines Gunnar Nyström said he was pleased the agreement was accepted.
“The last number of months have been very difficult for our employees, their families and the wider community. I would like to thank our employees for their patience during this difficult period.”, he said
Mr Nyström said the company will now begin the process of re-opening and employees will commence their return to work on a phased basis.
“We will communicate next steps with our employees in the coming weeks. We look forward to welcoming them back to work”, he said.
John Regan from SIPTU said that workers endorsed the ballot by two to one, with a turnout of more than 80%.
The group of unions has informed the company of the decision.
Mr Regan said that unions are now calling on the company to open the mine “expeditiously”.
“I think company is going to advertise expressions of interest for the redundancy packages and after that probably start calling people back. We would like to see that done in parallel,” he said.
Mr Regan said that there was relief today and that the wider community and businesses in town would be “very relieved” at today’s decision.
He said the mine represented big employment in the area, and also feeds into the wider 3,000 indirect jobs that are affected by the mine.
Speaking following the count this morning, worker Colie Kennedy said he was “euphoric” at the news.
An engineer in the mines planning department, he said it would be great to get back to work and know he has an income coming in as his daughter is due to go to college next year.
However, some uncertainty remains.
“I don’t see my job there as such, as a planning engineer, that job doesn’t exist anymore on the new workflow, so it is a case of sucking and see,” he said.
Gordon McNally who works in the processing plant at the mine said that he was happy at the outcome but was interested to see how it all pans out.
He was still working two days a week at the mine during the care and maintenance period but is now looking forward to getting back full time.
Miner Pat Conlon said the past nine months had been difficult for workers and that emotions were high today.
“Today is a good day because it means now the onus is after going back on the company to get the mine open as soon as possible”.
