Workers shocked by severity of redundancies

The shock among staff at Motorola's north Dublin plant yesterday was less to do with the fact of job losses than the nature and scale of them.

Rumours "ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous" - in the words of one worker - had been rife for weeks. However, no one seemingly predicted the takeover announced yesterday, which will see 750 employees, or more than half the workforce, being made redundant. Or that the workers will be making way for local rivals Celestica, located in a facility a quarter of the size, literally across the road in the Balheary estate in Swords.

"I don't think anyone thought it would be so bad," said Mr Darren Gallagher, an engineer from Finglas who has been working at the plant for four years. "Things were always a bit up and down. But this is such a big move."

He said he was just a year into a new mortgage and, like many workers, was concerned about whether he had a place in the new set-up. "The redundancy scheme is generous and I'm sure there will be plenty of takers," he said.

No one interviewed yesterday, however, was willing to say whether they would go for the package, which a spokesman for Motorola said was 10-12 times the statutory requirement.

Staff were given the day off work yesterday to give them time to come to terms with the announcement, which was made around noon. At almost exactly the same time, staff at Celestica were called to their factory canteen to hear the same news.

There is already some social interaction between the two plants and, indeed, there is one employee at Celestica whose mother works at the Motorola plant into which he will now be moving.

The focus for the moment, however, is on those who are facing Christmas without a job.