Deal with Celestica to cost 750 jobs at Motorola plant in Dublin

About 750 Motorola employees in Dublin will lose their jobs following the single largest redundancy announcement for almost four years.

The job losses are the result of an international alliance agreed between Motorola and electronics manufacturing services firm Celestica.

Ironically, at a recent Jobs Ireland recruitment fair in Prague a Motorola spokesman said the company was offering relocation packages worth up to £30,000 to potential employees.

Staff at Motorola's plant in Swords, Co Dublin, were told yesterday of the deal which will see a further 650 employees transferred to Celestica, which has a neighbouring operation in Swords.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said the job losses were "disappointing" but she was confident that all those who wanted to would find alternative employment in the electronics industry.

The redundancies are due to an alliance which will see Celestica manufacture some of Motorola's products and are part of a global trend towards outsource manufacturing.

Phased redundancies at Motorola's Dublin facility will begin after Christmas and are due to be completed by the second quarter next year.

Staff will be offered a voluntary severance package worth six weeks' pay for every year of service. Some other ancillary benefits such as healthcare and education grants may be offered.

Ms Jan Scott, human resources manager for Motorola Ireland, said some employees may be able to relocate to Motorola's software development centre in Cork or to manufacturing centres abroad.

She said the 650 employees transferred to Celestica would be guaranteed at least the same salary at Celestica and similar conditions.

The global alliance between Motorola and Celestica includes a supply agreement with Motorola which could be worth $1 billion over three years.

Under the terms of the deal Celestica has agreed to pay $70 million to acquire Motorola's manufacturing plants in Dublin and Iowa, USA.

Celestica will take over Motorola's 210,000 square foot plant and equipment in Swords next year. This plant will continue to manufacture Motorola's V100 mobile phone and pagers.

Mr Donal Casey, general manager at Celestica Ireland Ltd, said it was positive news for the company and represented a significant expansion in the Republic.

"There will be a mix of business in the new facility and the deal will be worth $750 million for Celestica Ireland over two years," he said.

Mr Casey said no final decision had been made on whether the company would transfer all its employees into the Motorola plant and sell the Celestica's existing plant in Swords.

Celestica's total workforce in the Republic will increase to 1,100 when the 650 employees at Motorola are transferred to the company next year.

An IDA Ireland spokesman said yesterday the job losses were part of a growing trend towards outsourcing within the electronics industry.

He said the job losses were the largest in the foreign direct investment sector since Seagate pulled out of Clonmel in 1997 but was not the start of a major pull-out from the Republic.

"This process has been ongoing for several years in Ireland," he said. " We wouldn't expect to see a large increase in closures or job losses."

Other Irish-based multinationals such as Dell, 3Com and Xilinx have outsourced some of their manufacturing.