The 350-strong workforce at the Motorola plant in Mahon, Cork, were left "shattered" yesterday after they were brought to the canteen at 2.30pm and informed their jobs were under threat.
The workers came out of the plant from 3pm onwards with the vast majority declining to comment, allegedly at the request of the company. Many said they needed time to digest the news before saying anything.
Worker Gerry Breen said the announcement was a disaster for the southside suburb of Mahon and surrounding areas. "It is very bad for the area, I think, especially when the Minister for Trade and Enterprise is in the locality as well. I think there is a lot of shock."
A father of five, who declined to be named, said staff were finding it hard to come to terms with the bombshell dropped by management yesterday afternoon.
He said all the talk on site was of how people were going to pay crippling mortgages. He added there was a sense of despondency among many employees about the possibility of finding new jobs. "I live locally. I have five children and a mortgage. It is awful news. The atmosphere is subdued. It is really disappointing."
John Maguire, who has been employed at Motorola, for eight years said the news was a big shock for workers, even with the feedback in recent years that the company was not performing well internationally.
The crisis at the plant will have a knock-on effect, with workers such as contract cleaners also expressing concern about their futures.
Contract cleaner Teresa Cummins has worked at Motorola for 19 years. When she started the company employed 18 people, before working its way up to 450 employees in the 1990s and back down to the current workforce of approximately 350 people.
Ms Cummins expects to find work elsewhere but said she was as devastated as any Motorola employee to hear the news of the jobs threat yesterday.
"I am not staff at Motorola but I have worked there for 19 years. I am just devastated. I just heard it on the radio. It is the end of an era. The staff here are absolutely fantastic. You just couldn't get nicer."
Fellow contract cleaner Catherine Cleary said there was a lot of anger in Cork about "a spate of jobs losses" in recent years.