Fears Mount Over 250 Job Losses In Cork

Early reports have surfaced suggesting a major Cork employer could be sacking all of its 250 workers.

Tyco Sensormatic, which employs 250 people at its plant in Bishopstown, is reportedly examining its operations globally, and may be planning to relocate the Cork facility to a new plant in Mexico as soon as it has been built.

Fine Gael Senator, Jerry Buttimer, said on Wednesday that staff at the Cork electronics manufacturer, Tyco Sensormatic, must be kept abreast of any plans the company may be making to relocate the facility to Central America in the future.

"It is widely believed that the company plans to close a facility in Puerto Rico in the near future and to move operations from there to the plant in Cork. However, there are growing fears among the staff at Bishopstown that this will be a short-term shift, which will last only until the new facility in Mexico has been completed, at which point the majority of Cork jobs will be transferred to Central America,” said Mr Buttimer.

He added: "In the current economic climate it is grossly unfair to keep staff in the dark about intentions the company may or may not have to move its Cork operation further a field. Cork has been awash with job losses lately with the announcement of 180 jobs to go at Pfizer in Little Island coming only this day last week."

The Senator also spoke of his concern over the national unemployment rate, which has soared to almost 6% with Cork being badly hit with the number of people on the Live Register increasing by 4,292 between March 2007 and March 2008, a jump of 28.8%.

(DW)