Glen Dimplex workers in Portadown to take industrial action over site closure

Industrial dispute a result of the company’s plans to offshore work to Lithuania, which will lead to redundancies and the potential closure of the site in Portadown

In February, Glen Dimplex announced a massive restructuring of its Irish operations, including the consolidation of a number of sites with 300 redundancies expected over the coming years.

Workers at appliance-manufacturer Glen Dimplex’s facility in Portadown will commence industrial action this Friday in a dispute with the company over the planned closure of the site, the trade union Unite has said.

In February, Glen Dimplex announced a massive restructuring of its Irish operations, including the consolidation of a number of sites, with 300 redundancies expected over the coming years.

The company said it was making these changes, as well as investing €50m across its operations, so it could focus on low carbon heating and ventilation solutions for homes and businesses.

It said at the time it would reduce the number of sites it had across the island of Ireland from five to three. The sites were located in Newry and Portadown in Armagh, two sites in Dunleer in Louth and a sales and distribution operation in Cloghran, near Dublin Airport.

The industrial dispute in Portadown is a result of the company’s plans to offshore work to Lithuania, which will lead to redundancies and the potential closure of the site in Portadown.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said workers had been left with “no alternative but to take industrial action”.

“The workforce has generated huge profits for Glen Dimplex but now management wants to cast them aside and offshore production to make even greater profits.” 

This comes following news last month that pre-tax profits at the main Irish-based unit of Glen Dimplex increased three-fold to €120.93m during 2023.

Consolidated accounts filed by Glen Dimplex Europe Holdings Ltd show the business enjoyed a boost in profits as revenues rose by 2% from €944.03m to €962.7m in the 12 months to the end of September last.

The 182% increase in profits coincided with Glen Dimplex gaining €185m from completing the sale of its global brand rights of Morphy Richards home appliances brand to a Chinese acquirer, Guangdong Xinbao Electrical Appliance Holdings (Xinbao).