YESTERDAY'S decision by the US-owned United Technologies Automotive to announce the imminent closure of its plant at Bligh's Lane, in the Creggan area of Derry, was not entirely unexpected. The company's future had been uncertain for the last year.
United Technologies started operating in Derry more than 20 years ago, producing wire harnesses for cars. Some 10 years ago more than 1,100 people worked in the plant, but that figure has decreased over the years. Last January 90 people were made redundant, and the remaining 525 jobs are now gone.
In a statement the company said the closure was regrettable but necessary and the plant would be closed down over the next few weeks.
In its statement the company said that for several years considerable effort and investment had been expended to make the Creggan plant a success.
"Several factors, not least, the ever-increasing pressure on prices, prevented the desired outcome and resulted instead in substantial losses during recent years," the statement said.
A company spokesman, Mr David McCavery, said the company had warned that unless radical changes took place it would be difficult for the plant to survive last January, when the 90 workers were made redundant.
"Absolutely nothing could have been done to save this plant," he said. "Given recent developments in the automotive industry in general and in Derry in particular, the decision would not have come as much of a surprise.
"The Derry plant has unfortunately been suffering ongoing losses for a period of years, and in light of this and in light of the tosses incurred in the financial year already, the corporation had decided to embark upon this action now."
The company's main customers in recent times were Peugeot and Jaguar, and it is believed work from the Derry plant will be transferred to the company's other European locations in Hungary, Portugal, Spain and France.
Many employees at the factory first learned of the closure in news bulletins yesterday morning. The workforce was officially informed by Amalgamated Engineering Union officials shortly after 8 a.m. yesterday. The meeting, which lasted almost one hour, was "like a wake", according to one worker.
The factory lies in one of Europe's unemployment blackspots.
Almost all of the company's Derry employees live in the Creggan estate, where 70 per cent of the male adult population is officially registered as unemployed and United Technologies is the sole large employer.
Staff leaving the factory yesterday said they had been instructed by their union representatives not to comment to the media. Many, however, spoke of having to cancel their summer holidays.
One engaged couple said their wedding planned for September would go ahead but without a reception. They also said that just last week they had taken out a mortgage and their priority yesterday was to pull out of the purchase of what would have been their new home.
In the Gallagher home at Lislane Drive in the Creggan estate, six sisters who work in the factory were yesterday coming to terms with the closure.
As the full impact of the announcement was being assessed, an industrial conference was taking place in Derry Guildhall. The conference was held to consider a report from Price Waterhouse which stated that without natural gas Derry could lose Lip to 4,000 jobs by the year 2010.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, who is MP for the area, had been working in the background in a bid to avert the closure and with a senior member of the AEU was officially told of the closure by management representatives in Belfast on Monday night.
Afterwards, Mr Hume commented that it was "strange" that the company was transferring the work from its Derry plant to other plants in Spain and Portugal.
"When I first heard of the rumours about the uncertainty of the factory's future, I went and spoke to the company president in America. As a result of that meeting, he sent the European directors of the company to Derry two weeks ago to meet me.
"At that stage they informed me that no decision had been taken. However, they came back and told me yesterday that they had decided now to transfer the work to Spain and Portugal, and that is strange.
"I intend to maintain my contacts with the company president to see if anything can be done to reverse this decision. I am prepared to do whatever is necessary to try to save these jobs.
"There is something strange happening in the car industry because it seems to be moving out of Britain and Northern Ireland. I think the fact that the work is being moved from one part of the European Union to another needs to be looked at very carefully," Mr Hume said.
The Derry Mayor, Mr Martin Bradley, said yesterday that the city council would do all it could to persuade the company to reverse its decision.