Hasbro, the manufacturer of Monopoly and other board games and puzzles, has blamed "steep increases in costs in Ireland" and more competition from China for 140 job losses announced yesterday at its Waterford factory.
The US company, established in Waterford since 1977, said it hoped to preserve the 300 remaining permanent jobs through a restructuring programme, changes in work practices and new investment.
Pat Gilhooley, managing director of Hasbro Ireland, said the decision to make employees redundant was "painful and difficult" but "unavoidable".
He said consultations have begun with employees, and it was expected that many of the redundancies would be "voluntary".
Ger Malone, a Siptu official in Waterford who represents 119 workers at the factory on the Cork Road, said she would be negotiating with the company about the restructuring, which she described as "very radical".
The announcement was "a bad day for Hasbro, and a bad day for Waterford" but "not a huge surprise as the demand for board games in Europe is on the decline and workers are also competing with the low-wage economy of China".
Mr Gilhooley said: "Hasbro, at corporate level, remains committed to Waterford, and will support us with further investment in the plant as part of the restructuring plan."
The company, with headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island, in the US, is a leading international manufacturer of toys and games with well-known brands including Play-Doh, My Little Pony, Scrabble, GI Joe and Bey-blades. Hasbro Ireland is one of the biggest manufacturers of games in Europe.
Mayor of Waterford Cha O'Neill said the redundancies had come "at a particularly unfortunate time of year". They were the latest in a series to have hit workers in Waterford, where "there has been a steady drip-drip of job losses right through 2006 from companies large and small".
He called on the Government to redesignate Waterford Institute of Technology as the University of the Southeast. Having a university in a region like the southeast would help "up-skill the workforce".
