Workers at the AST plant in Limerick will be told on Friday of the troubled company's plans to restructure. It has been estimated that up to one-third of the workforce will be made redundant, but sources say it could be several weeks before a final figure is arrived at.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, said the company was considering a range of options for the Limerick plant, including the possibility of locating non-manufacturing facilities there. The Limerick plant, which makes personal computers, was established in 1994 and is AST's only European manufacturing facility.
AST is owed by the Korean group Samsung and last month warned of the need to cut back its worldwide operations. Around one-third or about 1,100 jobs are to go.
Local management told employees in Limerick yesterday that the review of the company's European operations would be announced on Friday, but that it would include a reduction in the workforce there.
Ms Harney flew to London on Friday night with IDA Ireland's chief executive Mr Kieran McGowan. They met senior Samsung executives to discuss the issue. Ms Harney said yesterday that she had been told at the meeting of the "broad thrust" of AST's restructuring plan, but they had not yet finalised details.
"I impressed upon them the need to keep the Limerick workforce fully informed of the process of restructuring and put in the strongest possible way the importance of the operation in Limerick for the employees and the local economy," she said.
An IDA spokesman said the agency was continuing "close discussions" with the company and he understood that the talks would continue into January. It is thought that the situation may not become entirely clear until January. Earlier this year, AST, which at one stage employed over 700 people, let 90 staff go as part of another restructuring plan. The AST problems, coming around the same time as the shock Seagate closure announcement last week, where 1400 people are to lose their jobs has increased fears of further job losses in the computer industry.
Meanwhile, it is understood that a number of projects are almost ready to be announced for the Limerick area. The jobs, in the electronics sector, are expected to take up the slack, according to sources.
