More job losses likely at pharma giant Pfizer
The company announced yesterday it would be cutting 129 jobs at its Ringaskiddy factory and a further 48 in Little Island, leaving it with 450 workers at the two plants.
Pfizer also said it could not guarantee that further jobs losses would not be announced as the pharmaceutical industry in general goes through a rocky period.
Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy he was “disappointed” by the cuts, which will be implemented next year.
“The announcement will have an impact on the local economy and in particular on those losing their jobs,” he said.
“But we need to bear in mind Pfizer’s continuing strong investment in Ireland and indeed Cork, and the opportunities which will exist for future investment in the years ahead.”
He said there was no doubt the cuts would also have an impact on jobs in the service industry, but said it was impossible to quantify how significant that would be.
“It is worth noting that there are currently significant pressures on the worldwide pharmaceutical market and an enhanced need for global efficiencies.
“It also further enforces the need for Ireland to continue to regain competitiveness and strategic focus to remain a global player within the evolving pharma sector.”
Pfizer vice-president Paul Duffy said the decision to cut the workforce in Cork to 450 was mainly due to the patent expiry of Lipitor and other important medicines.
“Patent expiry means greater competition which impacts global demand, and we need to readjust the scale of our manufacturing operations,” he said.
However, he maintained that Ireland remained a key strategic location for Pfizer, with diverse operations in pharmaceutical active ingredient manufacturing, tableting, biopharmaceutical manufacturing as well as treasury, shared services and commercial operations.
Seamus Fives, who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the two plants, said it had been a very difficult decision for the company to make.
Dr Duffy said Pfizer needed to achieve greater competitiveness so that it could be successful in certain areas of generic manufacturing.
He added that he could not guarantee further job losses.
“A full range of services including career advice, one to one counselling, retirement planning and financial advice will be provided.”
The announcement came just a month after a senior Pfizer employee urged people to vote for the fiscal treaty.
Speaking at a meeting in Lucan, Co Dublin hosted by Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald, David Gallagher of Pfizer Healthcare Ireland said “export growth is the only show in town at the moment and certainty and stability are needed to grow our existing export industry and ensure future foreign direct investment.”
Yesterday unions and management started talks on the proposed redundancies.
Siptu sector organiser Alan O’Leary said unions would be trying to save as many of the 177 jobs under threat as they can.
“We will be looking at alternatives and engaging with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation to see if there are supports available to save some of these jobs. We’d argue that in the current economic crisis that Pfizer is very important to the Cork region,” he said.
He added he was surprised that so many of the 127 jobs under threat in Ringaskiddy were directly involved in production.
Mr O’Leary said that unions had not yet discussed redundancy terms with the company as there was plenty of time to do this because no jobs will be lost until next year.
