450 jobs lost as workers face cuts in pay, conditions

MORE THAN 450 jobs were lost across Ireland yesterday, with employees at other firms including Big Four accountant Ernst & Young facing significant cuts in salary and conditions.

Listed bathroom products group Qualceram requested that its shares be suspended on the Irish Stock Exchange amid signs that talks with its bankers and landlord were deadlocked, putting a further 100 jobs at risk.

“The board now believes that it is unlikely that a satisfactory outcome to these discussions will be reached,” the group said in a statement yesterday.

The company is understood to be discussing a range of options this afternoon, which may include some form of corporate rescue or an insolvency procedure such as examinership or receivership, if it cannot meet debts falling due.

The company terminated offer talks for the business last year after potential buyers were hit by the credit crunch. Qualceram has been hit hard by a protracted slowdown in the Irish and British property markets and has cut jobs and reduced output in response to this lower demand.

Drug manufacturer Schering Plough announced the loss of 240 jobs yesterday with the closure of its animal health products plant in Bray, Co Wicklow, by 2011.

General manager Pat Kerr said the company regretted the impact the decision would have on workers and their families. “We will do everything we can to support people, with career advice and personal counselling. The planned closure date is by mid-2011 and we do not anticipate redundancies in the coming 12 months or so,” he said.

“The decision announced today is a direct result of global over-capacity and is no reflection on the employees here in Bray.”

Schering-Plough is currently in the process of being taken over by rival Merck.

In Belfast, more than 200 job losses were announced after the car components firm Visteon entered administration. The company, which was formerly owned by Ford, employs approximately 600 people at three plants in the UK, at Belfast, Basildon and Enfield. Visteon is a leading global car components supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures climate, interior, electronic and lighting products.

In a statement, administrators Jim Tucker and John Hansen, from KPMG, said the UK business has not been profitable since its incorporation in 2000, and its reported losses since total £669 million (€723 million). Various restructurings were attempted by Visteon UK (VUK), but none have been successful.

“VUK has been dependent on Visteon Corp to fund its losses. The parent company has informed VUK that it can no longer support the business, resulting in VUK appointing administrators today.”

In Dublin, Ernst & Young became the third member of the Big Four accountants to announce measures to cut costs yesterday.

Staff other than support staff earning less than €40,000 will take a 7.5 per cent pay cut from July. Holiday entitlements and overtime will also be affected, but the firm said there would be no redundancies.