2,000 jobs lost since beginning of year

MANUFACTURING firms are under renewed attack from low-cost countries forcing factory closures around the country, it was claimed yesterday.

Around 2,000 jobs have been lost in the first three weeks of the year with the closure of plants in Dublin, Donegal and Carlow.

Eric Conroy, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed general secretary, said it was a worrying start to the year despite renewed economic and employment growth.

“The manufacturing sector is under attack again as competition from low cost countries forms a constant backdrop to these grim announcements,” Mr Conroy said.

West Dublin has been hit with the closure of APW Enclosures and SerCom Solutions. A total of 420 jobs are set to go.

Textile firm Sara Lee, Irish Sugar, Bord na Mona and Donegal Parian China were also hit with closures.

“These levels of redundancies will have a negative impact not only on the workers but also the communities, and we in the INOU have been consistently warning of widening regional disparities,” Mr Conroy said.

“It is vital that the Government strives to replace these jobs in the same localities.”

Executives at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions called for a more pro-active approach to protect the manufacturing sector.

At a meeting yesterday in Dublin, ICTU general secretary David Begg said Tuesday’s 600 job losses here and in the North amounted to a black day for the industry.

“The implications of globalisation - where employers move labour-intensive manufacturing industries to low cost countries - can hardly come as a surprise to anyone,” Mr Begg said.

“It is a phenomenon affecting all industrialised countries. We also know the solution to the problem but we need to get real about doing something towards implementing it.”

He said Ireland had to ensure skills were enhanced to boost employment in manufacturing where wage costs represented less than 10% of sales.

“What we have to do is to change our industrial profile by migrating more employment into the lower risk category. This is where improving skill levels comes in,” Mr Begg said.

He added it would be prudent to address graduate supply and upskilling of workers, but stressed that all the focus had been on graduates to date.