Lucent to shed 120 jobs in Dublin plant

Lucent Technologies, the struggling US telecoms giant, has announced 120 redundancies at its south Dublin offices.

Workers in the network operating systems division at Cherrywood will go in a bid to cut overheads in the Republic by 25 per cent. Some 50 shared services staff will remain but may be redeployed to a second facility in Blanchardstown, north Dublin, which employs 350.

Redundant employees have been told they can apply for jobs in Spain and India. A "competitive" redundancy package is being offered, the company said.

Lucent, the world's largest manufacturer of telecom equipment, has borne the brunt of the recession gripping the tech sector, with losses last year climbing to an unprecedented €7.9 billion.

The redundancies are not a shock for workers at Cherrywood, where 60 jobs were shed last month.

Staff had been warned that the division's future was highly precarious and were even advised not to take out mortgages until the outlook improved. Eighty per cent of workers will be let go by September, with the rest following in November.

But Lucent insists it is committed to the Republic, saying there is no question mark over the future of the Blanchardstown plant, which unlike Cherrywood it owns rather than leases.

A spokeswoman said: "Lucent remains committed to its operations in Ireland and will still employ around 350 employees which will position us well to serve our customers when the market upturn occurs."

She added: "A competitive package is on offer and the employees have been informed of their entitlements. Lucent will set up a resource centre to assist employees find alternative opportunities internally within Lucent and externally in the wider marketplace."

Lucent, which began life as the research arm of US telecoms group Bell, became a market darling during the 1990s tech boom and at its height employed 800 here. But it has not weathered the downturn well, having posted 11 consecutive quarterly losses and made 50,000 staff redundant in the past two years. The company has been forced to take a $4billion charge to pay for redundancies and to shore up its declining pension assets.

The group makes equipment for mobile phone companies, optical, data and voice networking. Investment among clients has slowed as they seek to work off heavy debts accumulated during the past decade

Executives remain bullish, late last year predicting a return to profitably by late 2003.