Schering-Plough plant to close with loss of 240 jobs

AS 240 jobs were axed at the Schering-Plough pharmaceutical plant in Bray, Co Wicklow, another 100 jobs were said to be under serious threat last night at Qualceram Shires bathroom products factory in nearby Arklow.

US-based Schering- Plough said it would close its Wicklow operation over the next two years but stressed 1,000 jobs in Brinny, Co Cork; Rathdrum, Co Wicklow; and in Swords, Co Dublin, were safe.

In Belfast, more than 200 workers who were told they were being made redundant, are staging a sit-in at the Visteon car components plants.

Meanwhile, financial consultants Ernst & Young is to reduce workers’ salaries by 7.5%.

Labour Party Wicklow TD Liz McManus said the job losses at Schering-Plough were a disaster for the town and the region.

“While the headline job-loss figure is bad enough, there will also be knock-on effects in employment in local suppliers, and in the local retail and commercial sectors,” she said.

In a joint statement, Fine Gael TDs Billy Timmins and Andrew Doyle said: “Given that years of technical experience has been built up, we will be seeking to meet with management within the company to investigate finding alternative employment for those who are to be made redundant from within company structures... This will have terrible knock-on effects in the region and it is sad to see a once reliable source of employment such as the biotech industry suffering in the face of Ireland’s decreased competitiveness,” they said.

Pat Kerr, general manager of Schering-Plough Bray, which manufactures veterinary products, said the decision to close the plant was a direct result of global overcapacity. “We very much regret the impact this decision may have on our colleagues and their families. We will do everything we can to support people with career advice and personal counselling.

“The planned closure date is by mid-2011 and we do not anticipate redundancies in the coming 12 months or so.”

In Arklow, talks at Qualceram Shires have been ongoing since the company requested a suspension of its shares on the Dublin and London stock exchanges.

A spokesman for the firm said every effort was being made to secure the future of the group and 100 jobs in the region.

Schering-Plough SIPTU branch organiser Kieron Connolly called for workers to be retrained over the next 24 months.

“This is a high quality workforce which needs to be brought back into active employment as soon as possible,” he said.

“Wicklow has suffered a 100% increase in unemployment in the past year.”

Elsewhere, financial consultants Ernst & Young revealed its workers will have their salaries reduced by 7.5% from July 1, with the exception of support staff earning less than e40,000 a year.

A spokesman said the firm has also revised its overtime policy and aligned holiday entitlements with the marketplace.

“Since the beginning of the recession in Ireland we have managed our costs in a tight and effective manner in response to market conditions,” said the spokesman.

“However, in order to avoid putting our people at more serious risk and to protect the capacity of the business, we have taken this measured response.

“We are not announcing any redundancies,” Ernst & Young stated.