Teresa O'Malley
Forty-five workers in a Co Mayo plant are to lose their jobs as their American-based employers move part of their production operations to China.
However, the remaining 35 jobs at the Dekko Heating Technologies factory in Ballinaare safe, management emphasised yesterday.
There had been fears among the 80 strong workforce for some time that layoffs were looming. Yesterday 45 workers got notice of redundancy effective from January 23rd.
Mr Peter Brady, the general manager of Dekko, which assembles a wide range of items for the heating technology market, said there were two reasons for the redundancies, part of the plant was being transferred to China, and a major contract with a client for a particular product had expired.
Mr Brady gave assurances about the future of the 35 remaining jobs. He said the parent company in the United States had confirmed the strategic importance of the plant as its European base, and the company was continuing to invest in Ballina from a sales and marketing, research and development and laboratory facility viewpoint.
Mr Mark Winters, a Fine gael member of Ballina Town Council, said last night that despite repeated phone calls to the plant this week he had been unable to speak to any representative of management.
"I am also aware of another member of Ballina Town Council who has been trying to get answers from the company but has failed to speak to anyone this week," he said.
The Dekko factory was secured for Ballina in the wake of disastrous job losses at the Asahi plant in Killala and the Henniges plant in Ballina in the latter part of the 1990s.
"Workers that I have spoken to have told me that up to 45 jobs will be gone by the end of the month. It is of great concern that part of the production is now to be sourced out to China," Cllr Winters said.