Donegal jobs to stay, says Fruit of the Loom

Fruit of the Loom, which employs 2,500 people in Donegal, has reiterated assurances previously given to the Tanaiste that there will be no job losses at its Irish operations in 1998.

A company spokesman said yesterday that Fruit of the Loom will be sticking to that commitment. The only likely job losses in the short term are expected at its small Dungloe plant, which employs 40 people, and has always been considered vulnerable.

The comments come ahead of another meeting between the Tanaiste, Ms Harney and Fruit of the Loom chairman and chief executive, Mr Bill Farley, at group headquarters in Chicago today. The meeting will be Ms Harney's fourth visit to Mr Farley since he gave a firm commitment on the group's Irish jobs last August.

The Tanaiste is in the US leading a trade mission made up of 21 executives from Irish electronics and software engineering companies. Ms Harney is also scheduled to meet with executives from other multinationals which are major employers in Ireland - including Motorola and Apple where jobs are under threat.

SIPTU branch secretary for Donegal, Mr Sean Reilly, said yesterday there was "no reason" to believe that any jobs were under threat at the moment at Fruit of the Loom. SIPTU has been given assurances by the company in recent weeks that there are "no plans" to downsize.

Fruit of the Loom is the largest employer in the Donegal and Derry region, employing 2,500 at its plants in the Inishowen Peninsula and a further 1,000 at its spinning plants in Derry. The bulk of its manufacturing activities are focussed on the production of T-shirts for the European market with the remainder concentrated on higher-value fleece items, such as sweatshirts. The low-cost high-volume T-shirt production has been periodically reviewed by the company, which runs a sister operation in Morocco. Sewing costs in Morocco are much lower, with employees working for as little as £30 a week.

SIPTU has been working closely with Fruit of the Loom's Irish management, in a bid to train increasingly more staff to work in the fleece manufacturing process which is continually expanding. The company has invested substantially in this part of its operations over the years.

Ms Harney will travel later this week to Texas with a number of Irish business people, to attend some of the meetings with potential joint-venture partners.