This article is from page 6 of the 2007-07-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
BUSINESS interests have reacted to news that one of the mid-west’s larg- est employers is to cut jobs by say- ing that the situation could have been worse.
Rita McInerney, CEO of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, has said that it bodes well that the Limerick Dell plant will only be losing 3 percent of the workforce as opposed to the 10 percent being shaved off elsewhere.
And the 80 to 100 jobs which will go at the Raheen Plant will all be voluntary redundancies, it was point- ree) b
While the cuts at Dell Ireland were smaller than expected McInerney said that it was “important for us to remain vigilant, to listen to the needs of industry and convey that back to the Government.”
She added that there had been many examples “of multi-nationals scaling down and coming good again so that they take on more people than they let go in the first place. I would hope that will be the case with Dell”.
Limerick chamber also reacted to the voluntary redundancy package announced at Dell’s Limerick plants, saying that although it was disap- pointing to hear of any job losses in Limerick, the announcement was
not a surprise and that realistically the situation could have been a lot worse.
“Luckily the global target was not sought in Limerick, otherwise three times more jobs could have been lost and the situation would be a lot more serious” said Reginald Freake, Pres- ident of Limerick chamber.
Staff were informed shortly before llam last Thursday that the company would be seeking voluntary redun- dancies. Dell would not comment on the details of the redundancy pack- age beyond describing it as “com- ORLA ome
But sources close to the company say that Dell is offering between 80 and 100 staff a redundancy package of six weeks’ pay per year worked, capped at one year’s salary. Job cuts are being sought among skilled staff from support functions such as IT, HR, marketing and manufacturing management and supervisors.
Production line staff will not be entitled to apply for redundancy.
Last month, Dell CEO Michael Dell announced that the company would reduce its global workforce by 10 percent. The company has been hit by falling sales of desktop computers and last year lost its spot as the world’s top PC maker to rival Hewlett- Packard.