Pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough is to cut its workforce at its plant in west Cork by 160 people.
Workers were briefed by management at the plant at Brinny near Innishannon this afternoon on cost reduction proposals.
The plant, which at one point employed over 1,000 staff, currently employs 519 people. It is planned that the staff reduction will take place over a three-year period with management expressing hope that the reduction can be obtained through voluntary redundancies.
In a statement, Schering-Plough’s Brinny site director John Howell said the proposed changes gave the plant the opportunity to secure its future through further investment and growth.
"While the transformation programme outlined today will be extremely challenging for us all, it also presents us with a superb opportunity to work collectively and support each other through a process where we can have a significant influence on securing a future where growth and further investment and development of the site remain a real possibility," he said.
The Irish Times understands the job cuts are part of a cost reduction review within Schering-Plough designed to increase the plant's competitiveness. The review was initiated prior to Schering-Plough's merger with Merck Sharpe and Dohme in 2009.
"This is about cutting the costs of production here at Brinny and increasing the plant's competitiveness within the Schering organisation - it was begun before the merger with Merck and it's not a question of the plant here duplicating a Merck plant," said a source.
Schering-Plough's plant at Brinny manufactures pharmaceutical ingredients for a number of the company's leading drugs, including treatments for Hepatitis C and rheumatoid arthritis .
Products produced at the Brinny plant earn over €2 billion a year in sales for the company and are exported to some 90 countries while the company is currently investing €19 million in the upgrading of technology and production facilities.
Local Labour Senator Michael McCarthy, a former employee at the plant, said the news of the redundancies is a bad blow to the local economies of nearby towns such as Bandon and Kinsale and the west Cork area in general.
"These are towns that already suffered job losses in manufacturing, retail and construction and the threat now to service suppliers in these towns on foot of today's announcement is a very real concern," he said.
"Looking further ahead, one can only hope that the savings that the company hopes to make from these job cuts will ensure the long term viability of the plant which is crucial for west Cork," said Mr McCarthy, who worked in the plant for four years up until his election to the Seanad in 2002.
