High-skills fears as 500 jobs lost in 24 hours

CALLS were made last night for greater Government efforts to protect high-skilled jobs after another 500 job losses were announced in a 24-hour period.

The most significant of the three major announcements was in Waterford, where the Sanofi-Aventis plant is to shut down later this year, after almost four decades of employment in the city.

The 200 staff were told yesterday morning that the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical firm is moving the manufacture of creams and ointments from the plant, most likely to its facilities in France or Germany, which have spare production capacity.

The company began discussions on the planned closure with unions yesterday evening, but SIPTU regional secretary Mike Jennings said it appeared there was little cause for optimism.

“There has been too much complacency on the part of the Government and State agencies. It’s not just the low-skills sector being affected anymore; there needs to be more pro-active thinking on the part of the State agencies,” he said.

Many of the Sanofi-Aventis jobs are in the high-skill range, likened by Mr Jennings to those of the 350 high-tech workers being made redundant at the Motorola plant in Cork by the end of May.

The company’s vice-president for industrial affairs Alain Peychaud said the planned closure does not reflect on the performance of the workforce.

“The Waterford facility has played a key role in delivering high quality pharmaceutical drugs to patients. However, in order to remain competitive in the global pharmaceutical marketplace, we must continuously review our business strategies,” he said.

Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin described the news as a major disappointment but said the State’s job creation agencies will help workers find alternative employment in the months ahead.

“The IDA will work to try and find a replacement industry for Waterford, which is advantageously positioned in the South East region, and has a talented and skilled local workforce supported by Waterford Institute of Technology,” he said.

The city’s mayor, Councillor Cha O’Neill described the news as a body blow to the city, particularly following 140 redundancies at games manufacturer Hasbro in January and the loss of 200 posts at the Bausch & Lomb facility last September.

“This announcement underlines the need for a university in the southeast through the upgrading of WIT, which would allow us engage in the highest levels of research and create a significant number of new jobs,” he said.

Waterford Labour Party TD Brian O’Shea described the losses as an example of the wider haemorrhaging of highly-skilled jobs, particularly in Munster following cutbacks at factories in Nenagh, Cork and Limerick.

“For too long, the Government has been complacent about the employment picture. This complacency has resulted in announcements such as we have had today,” he said.

O2 Ireland said yesterday it is seeking 100 redundancies from among its 1,800 employees. The cuts are likely to effect all areas of the mobile phone operator’s work, except customer care, and are being blamed on cost-cutting requirements and a need to remain competitive.

On Tuesday, the High Court wound up Kildare-based packaging company Ire-Tex Ltd which employs 170 people at its facilities in Kildare, Limerick, Kildare and Meath, and had recently lost a long-running contract with computer firm Dell.