The North's Industrial Development Board does not plan to review any of the packages of financial assistance offered to the troubled telecommunications giant, Nortel. Nortel Networks, which plans to axe a further 330 jobs in the North, has received offers of financial assistance totalling more than £12 million sterling over the last eight years from the job creation agency in Northern Ireland.
The financial assistance packages are linked to job creation targets but it is understood that Nortel's current programme of redundancies does not impact on the group's commitments to the Industrial Development Board.
Nortel Networks will employ in the region of 1,600 people in the North when the current restructuring programme is completed.
The group yesterday began immediate consultations with employees at its plant in Monkstown on the outskirts of Belfast after it announced plans to reduce its Northern Ireland workforce by a further 330 people.
The fourth round of job cuts at the plant is part of a global programme to axe 30,000 jobs across Nortel Network's operations.
The majority of job losses are expected to take effect in Nortel's systems house. Union sources expect that temporary workers will be among the first to be made redundant.
Nortel Networks has agreed to enter into a 90 day consultation process with employees but it is believed the majority of the job losses will be identified quite quickly.
Mr Chris Conway, vice president of operations at Nortel Networks in the North, has said that the group is keen to realign its cost structure with market demand as quickly as possible.
He said Nortel Networks wanted to keep the number of redundancies to a minimum and that he appreciated that the situation was "painful" for employees who will be affected.
"We will try and do as much as we can for these employees and provide what ever support and help that we can offer.
"Although we have to implement this painful process at this time it is important for us to start to build the morale of our workforce in Northern Ireland again," Mr Conway said.
