Siptu representatives are to meet management at Wyeth Medica today to seek ways of minimising the impact of the company's decision to shed 250 jobs at its plant in Newbridge, Co Kildare.
Workers at the pharmaceuticals plant, which has 1,400 permanent and 100 temporary staff, were told at meetings yesterday of the decision to "phase out" 250 jobs this year and in 2007.
Local politicians reacted with disappointment to the news and said its impact would be felt throughout Kildare and beyond.
But there was good news elsewhere on the employment front with announcements that 120 jobs are to be created in Limerick and 50 in Athlone, Co Westmeath.
Even Wyeth's decision to reduce job numbers at Newbridge was tempered by news that the company is to invest €350 million upgrading manufacturing facilities at the plant.
It said this was evidence of the company's long-term commitment to its operations in Ireland in general, which employ 3,000 people.
The investment programme for Newbridge would enable the plant to expand future production of new products being developed by the company, it said. A spokesman said Newbridge was one of only two Wyeth plants worldwide, the other being in Puerto Rico, selected for the manufacture of its "emerging pipeline" of products.
However, the company was experiencing reduced demand for several current products which are made in Newbridge.
"Based on this continuing reduction . . . 250 permanent positions will be phased out at the facilities between 2006 and 2007," a company statement said.
Siptu Kildare/Leixlip branch organiser Adrian Kane, whose union represents some 650 general operatives at the plant, said he hoped the losses could be minimised by exploring redeployment opportunities for those affected.
He would also be asking, at today's meeting, that redundancies by implemented on a voluntary basis. A spokesman for Wyeth said a voluntary severance package would be available but it would be wrong to suggest that compulsory job cuts could be avoided entirely.
Local Labour TD Jack Wall said the announcement was a "huge shock" and called for "targeted jobs action" for the area.
Meanwhile, there was good news from US multinational Johnson & Johnson, which announced a €100 million expansion in Limerick, which will create more than 120 jobs. And 50 highly-qualified researchers are to be taken on by a US engineering college, the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Athlone.
