Galway:Some 200 staff at the Abbott Laboratories factory in Galway were made redundant yesterday. The group is the first tranche of staff to be let go before the medical stents plant is shut down in September.
When Abbott announced the 500 layoffs in December, it said it would provide competitive redundancy terms and outplacement services and hoped that up to 100 staff would be relocated to other Abbott units in Dublin, Donegal, Clonmel, Sligo, Longford and Cavan.
A spokeswoman yesterday said the company had no comment about the deal reached with employees, or how many staff had moved to its other plants.
Abbott has not officially recognised unions at the Galway plant, but branch organiser for the trade union Siptu, Michael Kilcoyne, said the company is paying eight weeks' pay per year of service, with no minimum payout, which he describes as a "raw deal".
"In places of short service we insist that workers get at least a minimum payout of two years' salary. Most of these people will find it difficult to get jobs and it's not feasible to leave Galway or sell their houses in the current environment," Mr Kilcoyne added.
