Caterpillar to cut 35 jobs in Northern Ireland

Caterpillar, the American engineering group, is to axe 35 jobs at its Northern Ireland operation as part of a reorganisation of its Electric Power Division.

The company today told its employees that it plans to implement measures to “better align its organisational structure” to create a more “efficient and competitive business model”.

The restructuring of the Electric Power division will result in the loss of 100 jobs in total in Mossville, Illinois; Griffin, Georgia; and Northern Ireland,

The redundancies will take effect on June 30th.

The company said: “We know this is difficult for our employees and their families, but we must take steps to position the company for long-term success.”

Northern Ireland has been at the harsh receiving end of a number of Caterpillar’s strategic restructuring programmes in recent years.

In 2012 the group ,which is headquartered in Peoria, axed more than 700 manufacturing jobs at its Northern Ireland facility, formerly known as FG Wilson.

Caterpillar subsequently transferred production of its small diesel generator sets from the North to China.

The group which has four sites locally – Larne, Monkstown, Springvale, and Belfast – employs around 2,100 people.

Trade union leaders said the latest job losses was “yet another blow” for the North’s manufacturing sector.

Davy Thompson, regional coordinating officer for Unite said: “In the last year Northern Ireland’s manufacturing base has suffered a series of losses with more than 1,500 job losses in prominent companies such as JTI-Gallahers in Ballymena, Bombardier-Shorts and Sirocco.

“Unite has led calls for the NI Executive to take action and bring forward a manufacturing strategy to stem the losses and refocus on securing investment and job creation. Our call for a strategic approach has been supported by Manufacturing NI who represents the leading employers in the sector.”

Mr Thompson said the union had written to the Minister for Enterprise requesting a meeting to discuss its concerns but he said one month later it was still waiting for a date.