CORK RECEIVED bad jobs news yesterday when a US-owned electronics company said it is to close its operations on the outskirts of the city with the loss of 119 jobs.
Harris Corporation announced it will shut its facility at Ballytrasna, Little Island, which makes wireless security devices, at the end of June 2010 with the loss of 69 permanent and 50 temporary jobs.
The company said it had told the workforce on August 26th last that it was assessing its overall business strategy to determine the best use of its resources.
On October 6th, it advised staff at Ballytrasna it planned to phase out operations by the end of June 2010. “This decision is the result of a thorough assessment of business considerations and existing capabilities elsewhere in the company. It is no reflection on the valued performance of our employees,” said the company in a statement.
The Harris Corporation bought the plant in May 2009 when it took over Tyco Electronics’ wireless division and it is understood the closure stems from the fact that the company already has a facility involved in similar work.
The company, which is headquartered in Florida, has another facility in Dublin in its broadcast devices section, employing 20 people, but that is not affected by yesterday’s announcement.
The company has annual revenues of $5 billion (€3.36 billion) and employs some 15,000 people worldwide, of whom 7,000 are engineers and scientists.
It is understood the Cork workforce ranges from highly skilled staff with PhDs to assembly workers.
The company has agreed a severance package with the non-unionised workforce that has been described as “generous”, while the company has also retained an outplacement firm to try and source jobs for the staff being made redundant.
Fine Gael TD for Cork South Central Simon Coveney said the announcement of the closure, although not a complete surprise, was still a devastating blow.
“The confirmation at Harris is part of a broader jobs crisis in Ireland. There are 430,000 people on the Live Register, yet the Fianna Fáil Government has failed to take any concerted action to address the unemployment crisis,” said Mr Coveney.
“Cork has suffered more than its fair share of jobs losses and Harris is the latest in a long line of closures that has seen Cork’s jobless figures skyrocket. The redundancy package at Harris is reported to be generous but the main issue is to get the 119 workers back into the jobs market as soon as possible,” he added.
Cork North Central Labour TD Kathleen Lynch said that Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, should set up an expert group to identify and assist in addressing problems within companies before they reach a crisis point.