This article is from page 2 of the 2011-09-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
ONE of east Clare’s largest employers, Beckman Coulter, is seeking up to 20 voluntary redundancies from its plant in O’Callaghan’s Mills as part of a major restructuring of the company.
The redundancies are to be spread between the company’s two Irish plants – the O’Callaghan Mills facility which employs 180 people, and a facility in Galway City which employs 190.
These redundancies are the first part of a major restructuring of the company which could lead to a closure of one of the two plants, with operations to be consolidated in ei- ther Galway or east Clare.
According to Clare SIPTU spokesperson Mary O’Donnell, who is working with the Beckman Coulter employees in O’Callaghan’s Mills, it looks likely that there will be enough staff members willing to take redundancy at this time.
However, SIPTU officials in Clare and Galway are monitoring the situation and hope to interact with Beckman Coulter management concerning any possible closure.
“At this point, we have the impression that there will be enough people to take up the voluntary redundancies so there is no plan for any union actions at this point,” she said.
“We are also monitoring the situa- tion regarding the proposed closure of one of the facilities. At this point, we have been given no timetable for when a decision on that is likely to take place.”
In a statement to all staff last week, Beckman Coulter president Bob Hurley said that eight per cent of the company’s 12,000 employees, or just under 1,000 employees, would be affected by the restructuring.
He said that management of the company were in the process of “making many tough decisions” about the future of the company and that any lay-off in facilities outside the US would “follow all local laws and legal requirements”.
Beckman Coulter was bought by Washington-based technology firm Danaher last July and have been in the process of a major restructuring of operations since then.
These latest job losses for O’Callaghan’s Mills come after 59 employees were let go at the facility in 2009.
These lay-offs were made following Beckman Coulter’s acquisition of the facility from Olympus Life Sciences in August of that year.
The reduction came when Beckman Coulter had to choose between getting rid of its Immunoassay Departments in either Clare or Galway. The factory has existed in the Lismeehan area of O’Callaghan’s Mills for more than 30 years.