ERICSSON IRELAND:TELECOMS FIRM Ericsson Ireland said yesterday it was laying off 300 workers at its Clonskeagh campus in Dublin over the next 18 months.
The company currently employs 1,700 people at offices in Athlone, Clonskeagh and Dún Laoghaire.
Ericsson managing director in Ireland John Hennessy said the redundancies were all compulsory as certain activities were being transferred abroad. The jobs, in product development and product line maintenance, will be moved to China, Poland and Sweden.
He said a comprehensive redundancy package would be provided.
Asked if Ericsson jobs were safe in Athlone and Dún Laoghaire, Mr Hennessy said “there are no plans for anything else but in the current economic climate you can never say never. But we have a lot of high-level activities in Ireland and they would be secure.”
Workers in Clonskeagh expressed surprise and anger at the announcement.
Martin Graney (46), who began working at Ericsson 22 years ago, said: “We believed we were safe because we’ve never been busier in the RD division.
“Most of us thought that the marketing unit here might see some redundancies but we were sure we’d be okay. As it happened the opposite turned out, which is a great shock.
“People are very upset. It’s like a family in there and everybody knows each other so it’s a shock. I believe the company is going to give us a fairly decent redundancy package, but there are no jobs out there,” he added.
Mr Graney said his wife had lost her job with an accountancy firm just before Christmas and that they faced a grim future. “We bought a house in 2007 and now we don’t have a job between us so it’s fairly dire straits.”
Speaking as tears fell down his face, a 50-year-old man who did not want to be identified said he felt “gutted” by the announcement.
“I’ve been working for Ericsson for 25 years, and the past 10 of those have been here at Clonskeagh so I’m devastated by this.
“I’m towards the end of my career so quite frankly my chances of getting a job now are fairly remote now. This couldn’t happen at a worse time, but then I guess that’s how it feels for anyone losing their job in the current climate.”
Brian McCormack, a father of one who has worked for Ericsson for 10 years, said he believed that he might have to leave the country to look for work.
“There seems to be a hiring freeze across all tech companies so prospects don’t look great. I can’t see in the short term that I’ll get any work so we’ll just have to see. I might have to consider moving abroad,” he added.