Permanent TSB may announce 300 job losses today in overhaul
The company, which employs 2,000 people around the country and is owned by Irish Life and Permanent, briefed both trade union Unite and its senior management on its plans yesterday afternoon.
Sources close to the company said it was likely to issue a media statement this morning.
That announcement will be followed by a statement from Unite.
While no reason has, as yet, been given for the decision to cut so many jobs, it is well known the company has been suffering financially in recent times, losing €131m in the first half of last year.
Initially, reports suggested the job losses could be between 250 and 350. Later in the day, sources put the likely figure at 300.
Following its meeting with senior management, Unite said it would not be commenting until it had had a chance to consult with its members at the bank.
“We hope to be in a position to issue a more comprehensive statement to the media on Friday morning,” it said.
Permanent TSB was not the only company to deliver bad news on the jobs front yesterday.
Tipperary-based Pall Ireland is to close with the loss of 94 jobs — 71 full-time and 23 part-time. The company, which manufactures medical devices, said only a fraction of the Tipperary facility’s capacity was being utilised and so the company had taken the decision to consolidate its manufacturing operations in another facility.
Outgoing Fianna Fáil TD Michael Mansergh said the closure was a serious blow to employment in Tipperary.
“A difficult situation arose back in 2003 when some of the production lines were closed down and factory floor space was vacated,” he said. “Unfortunately, inability to fill the vacant space may have been a factor in the eventual closure. At that time a number of South Tipperary Oireachtas members, including myself, travelled out to Pall headquarters in New York to meet management there to try and secure the remaining jobs, as it has turned out for another eight years. I would be quite prepared to do so again, particularly before March 9, if that would serve any useful purpose.”
Meanwhile in Waterford, uncertainty hangs of the future of staff employed by Cappoquin Poultry Ltd.
SIPTU said it has opened negotiations with management following the company’s decision to restructure the business with the possible loss of up to 50 jobs.
The company said the process was ongoing and there was a possibility that no jobs would be lost. It also denied claims by farmers who supply chickens to the plant that they had not been paid for a number of months and were owed hundreds of thousands of euro.
