An electronics firm in Gweedore Co Donegal has become the latest victim of the technology sector downturn, with the loss of 69 jobs, as IDA Ireland warned further job losses would follow in coming days.
The Donegal redundancies came amid confirmation yesterday that up to 100 staff at Trend Technologies in Clondalkin, Dublin out of a 260-strong workforce would be laid off from today.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 4,500 jobs have been lost in the tech sector, and the toll is rising. The IDA said job losses would continue, at both the high and low end of the technology sector, but would be unlikely to be on the scale of the Gateway closure with 900 redundancies.
The tech sector is not the only industry being affected - it emerged last night that 50 employees were to be laid off in a pharmaceuticals company in Co Kerry.
SMTC Manufacturing Corporation in Gweedore, is making 69 people redundant and putting most of its remaining 110 employees on a three-day week. It manufactures network equipment and said the job losses were due to the general downturn in the sector.
The company is one of the largest employers in the area and the loss of so many jobs will have a major impact on the small Gaeltacht community.
Workers at the factory last night expressed fears for the remaining jobs. It is believed they were told that unless demand picked up within two months, further lay-offs could follow.
The company was known as Qualtron up until last year when it merged with Toronto-based SMTC. It has been based in Gweedore for eight years.
In Dublin, layoffs at Trend Technologies are to begin this morning when nightworkers finish their shift, according to TEEU district secretary Mr Eamon Devoy. He was speaking after a meeting with management yesterday evening.
"I told the company it was not entitled to implement the lay-offs ahead of the 30 days notice provided in the Protection of Employment Act. "They tried to describe these as layoffs but the reality is there is no work for many employees and no prospect of any work for the foreseeable future."
Mr Devoy said management representatives told him the production base would be cut by 48 per cent by the decision to move some assembly work to Mexico. He feared further job losses if the Government failed to act.
The company said it would be laying off 50-100 employees as a short-term measure because of order losses in the Irish operation.
Trend Technologies, which provides plastic casings for PCs, would be at the lower end of the value chain.
The fact that some of its components will now be made in Mexico rather than Ireland is being seen within the industry as another reminder of the vulnerability of assembly like work.
Up to 50 jobs are to go at a Japanese pharmaceutical company in Kerry. The jobs are in the Fujisawa Ireland Ltd plant in Killorglin which employs around 300 people. It is understood that the jobs mainly affect contract workers.
