Carlow was dealt the latest in a series of employment setbacks yesterday with the news that 157 jobs are to be shed at the Braun Oral B manufacturing plant.
The news was tempered by the fact that the redundancies will not be implemented until next year, and an attractive severance package is to be available.
The development was, nevertheless, seen as a significant blow for the local economy, already hit by the closure of the Irish Sugar plant and job cuts at employers including Celtic Linen and Lapple.
Siptu Carlow branch organiser Michael Browne said the union was informed of the job losses at a meeting with management yesterday.
The company had decided to transfer its dental floss line to a plant in Mexico, which would result in the loss of 97 permanent and 60 temporary jobs from the Carlow factory, which currently employs 500.
The redundancy package was significantly better than the one which applied when the company made 255 staff redundant in 2003, Mr Browne said.
The new package comprises six weeks' pay per year of service, in addition to statutory terms, while no ceiling is to be placed on the payouts. A ceiling of two years' salary had applied on the previous occasion.
The fact that the terms had been improved and discussions on redundancies would not begin until February next year had "softened the blow" for workers, Mr Browne said.
However, those who left would find it very difficult to secure jobs of a similar quality elsewhere in the area, he added.
Mr Browne said the development was a "worrying continuation" of a trend involving the transfer of long-established Irish jobs to low-wage economies.
Workers at Braun had provided "every type of flexibility" sought in order to keep the plant competitive and could not possibly do more to retain the jobs there.
"This is a national problem and it calls for very urgent action by the Government," he said.
Calls to the company were not returned yesterday and security staff at its entrance said there was nobody available to comment.
Kildare South Labour TD Jack Wall said the announcement was the latest series of workforce cutbacks by the company which threatened its status as the major employer in the area.
"As the largest factory in Carlow, Braun attracts workers not just from the local area but from surrounding counties such as Kildare.
At one time almost 1,500 people were employed there, but following today's announcement the workforce will have fallen to barely a third of that figure," he said. He called on the Government to immediately establish a "more targeted approach" to job creation. "We cannot afford to haemorrhage manufacturing jobs in this fashion."
Green Party deputy leader Mary White, a Carlow-based councillor, said the development was "a black day" for the county.
Many of the jobs being lost belonged to young women who had made "tremendous sacrifices" in working to pay their mortgages and creche fees, she said.
Relief that redundancies voluntary
Michael Parsons in Carlow
Workers leaving the Braun factory in Carlow yesterday afternoon expressed relief that there would be no "compulsory" job losses. Volunteers would be sought for a redundancy programme expected to start before the end of the year.
One man, who declined to be named, said, "people will be queuing up for it" and said many employees "are married women who have worked here for 30 years and will be happy to take redundancy".
Workers said that 157 redundancies would be sought - 97 full-time and 60 part-time jobs - out of a total workforce of 500. There was praise for the company and the factory's senior management who are "trying to find new products to keep the place going" after the announcement that some production, including the manufacture of dental floss, would be moving to Mexico and Eastern Europe next year.
Colette Owens who works in quality control, and has been with the company for 28 years, said: "Braun has been very good to Carlow and we are looking on the positive side."
Kevin Donohue, who has worked in the technical department for 12 years said: "It is not all doom and gloom." He believes that Irish workers still have "some processes that eastern Europe can't match technically" and that "just if something can be made cheaper doesn't mean it can be made better".
Seán O'Gorman, from the engineering department, who also has 28 years' service, said: "Today was a bit of a shock but it's not the company's fault; it's hard to produce in Ireland anymore. It's too dear and we are pricing ourselves out of the market."
Mr O'Gorman added: "We still have a good company and are fighting for our lives but the Government is not helping with big increases in gas and electricity prices."
