US firm closes Bray factory with loss of 140 jobs

Some 140 jobs are to be lost with the closure of an electric motors manufacturing plant in Bray, Co Wicklow, despite union attempts to keep the plant open.

Workers at the AO Smith plant were yesterday told of the closure of the factory which has been in the town for 29 years.

The decision to close was "reprehensible", a Siptu spokesman said. It came as a shock to the union and to the workers as the union had been in ongoing negotiations with management regarding cost-cutting measures.

"We believed that this process had been largely successful in meeting the target set by the parent company in the USA until today's announcement," Siptu's branch secretary in Bray, George Sheehan, said.

He blamed the "corporate culture" of relocating to eastern Europe and the Far East in search of "cheap labour and the fast buck" for the closure.

"The expertise of the Bray workforce will not be matched in any of these locations."

The company said it had been forced to make the decision because it had been operating the plant at a loss.

Labour Party deputy leader and TD for Wicklow Liz McManus said the closure was particularly worrying following the recent decision of computer company Dell to relocate from the same area.

"The loss of these jobs will be a real blow to the workers involved but it will also have a negative knock-on impact on the local economy, especially in the Ballywaltrim area where the plant was located.

"This is a long-established company and while everyone was aware that it had been facing difficulties, there was real hope that cost-saving measures could have secured its future."

She called on the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, to request industrial development agencies to make Bray a priority area for new investment.

Meanwhile, another 65 jobs are to go at Merops Nutrition in Ballymount, Walkinstown, in Dublin. The factory, which makes pet food, is expected to close by June 17th.

A further 40 workers with a Galway construction company could face the loss of their jobs by the end of the month. Batu, the union representing some of the workers at O'Malley Construction, say 15 of their members had been put on notice as of this week and face being laid off.

The workers, some of whom have been with the company for several years, are blocklayers and have been involved in O'Malley Construction projects in Barna and Rahoon.

Batu has confirmed that no negotiations have yet taken place between unions and the firm.

O'Malley Construction was unavailable for comment yesterday afternoon.