THERE WAS “an eerie silence” on the production floor of the Kostal facility in Abbeyfeale yesterday, when workers were told of plans by the company to cut one-third of its workforce.
One employee compared the atmosphere at the plant to that of a funeral, when workers were told that the German-owned car component company was seeking 200 redundancies before the end of March.
Based in Abbeyfeale for the past 20 years, Kostal is the biggest employer in the west Limerick town.
Yesterday morning, the 650 staff employed there listened as managing director Michael Genster said he regretted having to take the decision, which had to be made to ensure that Kostal could continue to manufacture competitively.
“It was like a funeral, that’s what it reminded me of, very quiet and an eerie silence,” said Paul Hickey from Athea, Co Limerick, who has worked at the company for 15 years.
“I would be very fearful for the future . . . especially now with Dell and everything. Limerick and the midwest region is becoming like the wild west, tumbleweed down the middle of the streets, especially in rural areas that are very dependent on a big employer.”
Many Kostal workers admitted yesterday that they had been expecting bad news from the company, which has experienced a downturn in orders of 30 per cent over the past year.
“I think a lot of people knew this was coming for a while. It was quite obvious from the orders from September through to October that things were heading this way,” said John Beary from Listowel in Co Kerry.
Over at Mallow, technician Sonia Matthews, who has been with the company since it opened in the north Cork town in 2001, expressed concern over whether further job cuts may be necessary. “I’m not sure yet how I’m going to be affected. We knew that 40 operators were going to be going because we were in over Christmas arranging lines and making it possible to lose 10 operators per shift – my big fear is that this isn’t the end of it, that it’s just the beginning.”
Father-of-two Philip Woulfe said: “We knew this was coming for a long time. People thought it would be worse than it was but the car market has gone very bad so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Local Fine Gael councillor Liam Galvin worked at Kostal for 12 years and was at the factory gates in Abbeyfeale yesterday to sympathise with many of his former work colleagues.
“It’s a bad day in every sense of the word.
“Anywhere you see 200 jobs going, that’s an awful lot of unemployment in a small town and down on top of Dell.”
Fianna Fáil councillor Francis Foley was also at the Kostal plant in Limerick, where three members of his family work.
“All the various State agencies will have to be brought in here. It’s very important that we address the issue of competitiveness. We have to work with management to maintain the 300 jobs that are still here,” he said.
