EU approve €2.6 m for former Waterford Crystal workers

Scofflaw

The European Commission has today approved an application from Ireland for assistance from the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF). The grant of €2,570,853 will help 598 redundant workers in Waterford crystal to find new jobs. It will be part of an overall package of €3,955,159, with the balance coming from the Irish Exchequer.

The application will now go to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU for agreement.

"Today's decision will help the former Waterford Crystal workers on the road to a new job though training and support to update their skills ", said László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

He added, "The crisis has hit Waterford particularly badly because the fall in consumer purchasing power led to a drop in demand for luxury items like crystal glass. The globalisation fund will help cushion this dramatic change by helping workers better prepare for and find new opportunities".

The Irish application relates to 653 redundancies in total, of which 627 were in Waterford Crystal and 26 in three of its suppliers. Of these, the 598 most disadvantaged will receive support.

The total estimated cost of the package is €3,955,159, of which the European Union has been asked to provide EGF assistance of €2,570,853. The package will help the 598 most disadvantaged of these dismissed workers by offering them occupational guidance, help for business start-up and various training courses, including 3rd level degree courses, with the relevant allowances and grants.

Hopefully the government will manage actually to use this money, as opposed to other grants it has let slip.

The EGF does a fair bit of this, and claims a good success rate:

There have been 55 applications to the EGF since the start of its operations in January 2007, for a total amount of about €272 million, helping more than 52,300 workers.

EGF applications relate to the following sectors: automotive (France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, Sweden); textiles (Italy, Malta, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Belgium); mobile phones (Finland and Germany); domestic appliances (Italy); computers and electronic products (Ireland and Portugal); mechanical/electronic (Denmark); repair and maintenance of aircraft and spacecraft (Ireland); crystal glass (Ireland); ceramics and natural stone (Spain); construction (Netherlands and Lithuania); carpentry and joinery (Spain); electrical equipment (Lithuania) publishing and printing industry (Netherlands), furniture (Lithuania), retail trade (Czech Republic) and wholesale trade (Netherlands).

Final reports from the earlier cases supported by the EGF show strong results in helping workers stay in the labour market and find new jobs (in 2008, 69% of those helped found new jobs).

...although I note there's no comparative figure offered there.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Tipp Man

but aren't farmers the only people who have ever got money from the EU?? Isn't agriculture the only subsidised industry in the world ever??

dunsandin

I love this concept. Coddled worker in major company loses job. Que gnashing of teeth, all round tears and big nappy job to pick up the poor souls. We must all weep and hold their hands.

Plasterer loses his job, sure who cares?
Blocklayer?Ditto.
Warehouse worker in medium sized enterprise?No gnashing of teeth.
Software engineer in stalled start up? Not a word.

What exactly was so special about the Dell and Waterford crystal workers that they command such a nannied responce compared to any other redundant/laid off person. I worked as a contractor in both places, and the workers I saw were the same as any other(but with better conditions).
Call me harsh(like I care), but what the fecK? So you got laid off. Join the Queue buddies, you aint alone. Who moved my cheese anybody? Molly coddled springs to mind.
Now you can all cut me to pieces for being a big baddie. But really?Whats so special? Because the companies were well known? Are the ex-workers all complete cabbages that require special assistance? Whats the deal?If I lose my work, nobody gives a damn. Why the special treatment?

Scofflaw

dunsandin wrote: »

I love this concept. Coddled worker in major company loses job. Que gnashing of teeth, all round tears and big nappy job to pick up the poor souls. We must all weep and hold their hands.

Plasterer loses his job, sure who cares?
Blocklayer?Ditto.
Warehouse worker in medium sized enterprise?No gnashing of teeth.
Software engineer in stalled start up? Not a word.

What exactly was so special about the Dell and Waterford crystal workers that they command such a nannied responce compared to any other redundant/laid off person. I worked as a contractor in both places, and the workers I saw were the same as any other(but with better conditions).
Call me harsh(like I care), but what the fecK? So you got laid off. Join the Queue buddies, you aint alone. Who moved my cheese anybody? Molly coddled springs to mind.
Now you can all cut me to pieces for being a big baddie. But really?Whats so special? Because the companies were well known? Are the ex-workers all complete cabbages that require special assistance? Whats the deal?If I lose my work, nobody gives a damn. Why the special treatment?

The reasons given:

The South-East region, where Waterford Crystal is based, is more dependent on industrial activities than Ireland as a whole, making the region much more vulnerable to an economic downturn.

The closure of Waterford Crystal has affected the local economy in two different ways: the direct loss of jobs at Waterford Crystal and its suppliers, but also the resulting impact on tourism, as the Crystal Visitor Centre and the factory used to attract around 320,000 visitors per year.

It is estimated that the closure of the Waterford Crystal factory is causing an annual fall in personal consumption in Waterford city and its surroundings of at least EUR 40 million with a potential additional knock-on impact on local employment.

In a nutshell, they're saying that unlike, say, your job (or my business), Dell and Waterford were 'structurally important' to their regions. I think that's a fair point, and it seems to be a fairly consistently applied criterion. Other ex-businesses in receipt of similar assistance have been similarly regionally important or important as a structural part of an industry.

A small loss across a whole regional economy or industry is somewhat different from a region or industry where a concentrated loss of jobs results in a domino effect and an employment black spot that could last for years. The former can pick up again, but the latter would lack the critical mass of economic activity to get back on its feet.

cordially,
Scofflaw

dunsandin

Dont have a job Scofflaw, I own a business. Dont accept your view either. Like I said, I did work in both places. My opinion, as I stated, remains as I stated it. Please feel free to spend hours rounding up figures to refute me, That loss of €40,000 000 is the equivalent of 400 skilled construction workers losing their work, and 400 is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount that have already lost their livelihood. I could go on, but wont.