No festive joy in town as 160 jobs go in plant shut-down

THERE will be little Christmas cheer for workers at an American-owned electronics plant following the announcement that it is to close with the loss of 160 jobs.

Employees at the Artesyn Technologies plant in Youghal, Co Cork, were yesterday trying to come to terms with the prospect of joining an ever-lengthening dole queue in a region which is reeling from the recent loss of a number of major industries, including IFI and Youghal Carpets.

The factory, which was first opened 22 years ago, succumbed to what management described as a global downturn in the Telecoms market.

Two years ago the Youghal plant had a turnover of $50 million which slumped this year to $15 million. The company, which manufactures power supplies for Telecom industries, said it would be moving its production facilities to lower cost manufacturing locations in Hungary and China.

“We worked very hard over the last 12 months to try and avoid this decision but the slowdown was continuing in the market and across the board our customers were suffering as well,” said Artesyn Technologies director of European operations Phillip Whelan.

He said management regretted the timing of the announcement but felt that workers had the right to know as soon as the decision was made. Mr Whelan said the 160 jobs would be shed on a phased basis starting next January. The company will close its 100,000sq.ft. manufacturing facility which it will put on the market late next year. In the meantime, it will retain 82 personnel at an adjoining 70,000sq.ft. plant for engineering and customer support services.

Management told SIPTU representatives that they would stick to past redundancy packages which means workers will be entitled to non-statutory redundancy of four weeks pay per year of service. “It’s a tiny consolation, I know, but it’s a consolation,” Mr Whelan said. The company said it would also be meeting with FAS to provide training courses for those staff who are to be made redundant.

All of the 160 workers will be made redundant between next January and September.

The company also announced that it was shedding a number of jobs at a similar factory in Austria.