Blow to Cork as Harris Corporation announces 119 job losses

CORK-based US wireless technology manufacturer Harris Corporation has announced it is to close its Little Island plant next June with the loss of 119 jobs.

Harris, which only took over the operation from the wireless systems section of Tyco Electronics in May, said it was closing the east Cork factory due to the duplication of services provided there with its existing facilities elsewhere in the world.

“On August 26, Harris Corporation announced to its employees at its facility at Little Island, its plans to undertake an assessment of its overall business strategy and determine the optimal use of its resources,” a spokesman said. “It was anticipated at that time that the company would reach a final determination of the operations at the Cork facility by the first week in October. On October 6, the company advised its employees at Ballytrasna of its decision to phase out operations at the facility by the end of June of 2010.

“This decision is the result of a thorough assessment of business considerations and existing capabilities elsewhere in the company. It is no reflection on the valued performance of our employees.”

It is understood that as well as offering a significant redundancy programme well in excess of the statutory norm and giving staff a long lead-in time to the redundancies, Harris Corporation is trying to help staff find new jobs through out-placement companies. That process started on Tuesday.

The plant has operated under a number of different owners over the last 20 years. Those losing their jobs include 69 full-time staff and 50 part-time.

Harris has other operations around the country. The spokesman said none of the workers in those facilities would be affected by yesterday’s announcement.

Fine Gael TD Simon Coveney said news of the closure was “devastating for all involved”.

“Although the news today did not come as a surprise for the 69 full-time and 50 part-time workers, it is still devastating to be told your job is going. The confirmation at Harris is part of a broader jobs crisis in Ireland. There are 430,000 people on the live register yet the Fianna Fáil government has failed to take any concerted action to address the unemployment crisis. A clear plan of action to spark job creation and tackle competitiveness is needed but the Government has failed to provide it and has failed to tackle Ireland’s collapsing competitiveness with the economy slipping three places to 25th ranking in recent figures from the World Economic Forum.

“Cork has suffered more than its fair share of jobs losses and Harris is the latest in a long line of closures that has seen Cork’s jobless figures sky-rocket.”