Senior Motorola executives have briefed IDA Ireland, following an announcement early yesterday that the company would shed 15,000 jobs worldwide because of weakening demand for its products. The giant US multinational employs 1,600 people in Ireland.
It is understood that the future for workers at the Irish plants - in Dublin and Cork - will not become clear until Monday, when Motorola will outline its plans to investors in the US. Yesterday the Irish operation's executives met IDA chief executive Mr Kieran McGowan to inform him of the jobs reduction announcement.
It is thought that if jobs in Ireland are affected, it will most likely be at the Dublin plant in Swords. It is thought likely that contract jobs, of which there are said to be about 400, would be affected first.
A Motorola spokeswoman in Ireland was unable to comment yesterday. Motorola is expected to reduce its 150,000 worldwide workforce by 10 per cent.
It warned early yesterday morning that second quarter earnings could fall far short of expectations. The company added that special charges totalling $1.95 billion (£1.33 billion) would be assessed against second quarter pre-tax earnings.
It has pledged to implement "a comprehensive series of manufacturing consolidations, cost reductions and restructuring steps" to improve its financial performance.
"Second quarter 1998 earnings, excluding special items, are expected to be well below the expectations of the investment community as a result of deteriorating demand and global pricing pressure ... and driven primarily by economic conditions in Asia.
"This could result in an operating loss for the quarter," Motorola said in a statement.
"In the fourth quarter of last year our forecast for 1998 called for higher sales growth and improved profitability - that has not materialised," said company president Mr Robert Growney.
"It is clearly time to accelerate the implementation of our renewal plan. We are determined to return our financial results to an acceptable level as soon as possible. The goal is to generate annualised d savings, once all actions have been implemented, of more than $750 million."
The company said it would consolidate manufacturing operations throughout the company, with emphasis on the semiconductor products and messaging, information and media segments.
Motorala chief executive Mr Christopher Galvin said while the company regrets the affect this will have on certain employees "we must adjust our production capacity to the reality of current business conditions and reduce costs to improve overall financial performance." Motorola announced in April that it would create another 120 jobs at a new semiconductor centre in Cork. The jobs were due to come on stream over the next three years as part of a £5.3 million investment by the company. Sources were adamant yesterday that these jobs would not be affected.
Motorola already employs 300 people at its Cork-based European Software Centre, the bulk of whom are software engineers.
