‘Odds against us when US went into downturn’

DISAPPOINTED workers at the Pfizer plant in Little Island believe the downturn in the US economy made other companies reluctant to buy the factory as a going concern.

Martin Condon, who has worked in the plant for the past 26 years, said when the company first announced its intention to sell off the Little Island plant, workers were very confident it would happen.

“We fully expected the plant to be sold. All efforts went into that. But the odds were stacked against us when the US economy went into downturn,” said the married father of three.

He started working in the Little Island plant in 1982, when it was owned by the pharmaceutical company Gaeleo.

Like a number of others, Mr Condon continued in employment when it was taken over by Pharmacia & Upjohn and, later in 2003, when Pfizer took control.

“There are a lot of young men working here who have young families to look after and mortgages to pay. The prospects aren’t looking good for people in the pharmaceutical industry at present. Smithkline (GSK) are also laying off people,” he said.

Mr Condon believes the future is looking equally “gloomy” for workers at Pfizer’s Loughbeg plant in Ringaskiddy.

If the company doesn’t sell that plant before next spring, its 260 workers will also be made redundant.

He believes the Government should set up a taskforce to address job losses in pharmaceutical companies in the region.

“There is plenty of expertise in Cork. There’s a readymade workforce and the TDs and ministers should be trying to attract replacement industries,” said Mr Condon.

Alan O’Leary, SIPTU section organiser, said the job losses were a huge blow to Cork and the Munster region as a whole.

“The recent announcement by Pfizer management, that during the final stages of purchase a perspective buyer of the plant backed out, obviously sent alarm bells ringing,” he said. “Now these workers, many of whom were employees of Pharmacia & Upjohn and before that Gaeleo, face the prospect of seeking employment in a declining jobs market. It is a bleak day on the jobs front for Cork.”

The lord mayor of Cork, Brian Bermingham, said he deeply regretted the announcement.

“Pfizer’s have provided quality, steady employment over many years for many people and their contribution to the local and national economy is impressive.”

He added that international pressures are creating an environment that poses difficulties for the operation of many companies.

“I am confident that Cork will surmount the challenges it now faces on the economic front,” said Mr Bermingham. Pfizer facts

* Pfizer was founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 1848 by cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhardt.

* The company established mass production of penicillin during WWII.

* Last year Pfizer earned $48.4 billion (€31.3bn) in revenues and invested $8.1bn (€5.2bn) in research and development.

* It employs more than 100,000 people worldwide.

* Pfizer presently employs 2,200 people in Ireland.

* The company has manufactured a series of drugs which became household names. They include the anti-impotence drug Viagra, cholesterol-reducing Lipitor and the long-acting antibiotic Zithromax.