Irish jobs will not be affected by Lucent cuts

The 900 Irish employees of Lucent Technologies are to be virtually unaffected by the latest restructuring plan at the telecommunications equipment giant, a spokesperson said yesterday. Lucent announced on Thursday that it was to cut its global workforce to 60,000, from 106,000 at the start of the year.

It is understood that aside from minor reductions in Irish numbers, the company's three Dublin-based Irish operations will be largely protected from this downsizing because of the activities which are concentrated in the company's Blanchardstown plant. This plant houses an international operations centre which services the group's InterNetworking Systems and Optical Networking groups, activities which are believed to be central to "phase two" of the company's restructuring programme.

Lucent has said that it plans to narrow its focus to serve large telephone companies. "Lucent continues to implement phase two of its restructuring plan," said the Irish spokesperson.

"We will have some minor realignment of our employees in Ireland in line with market needs." The spokesperson continued however by saying that "Lucent Technologies in Ireland will be a key part of the new Lucent and is well positioned to expand its operations when the expected market upturn takes place."

Lucent launched a restructuring in January to stem the loss of billions of dollars by cutting jobs and shedding businesses. After amending the terms of its credit facilities last week, the company got the green light to proceed with the next stage of the restructuring, which will result in a $7 billion (£6.04 billion) to $9 billion charge in the fourth quarter.

In a meeting with analysts on Thursday, Lucent stressed it had the financing in place to complete the restructuring and fund its operations until the company started making money.

It also reiterated plans to cut costs and improve gross margins but indicated that it would be November before it could confirm the product lines or businesses to be cut.