UP TO 80 people are to lose their jobs at Tralee-based German manufacturing company Beru Electronics, which makes components for the car industry, the company confirmed yesterday.
The 80 redundancies were being sought as part of “an overall re-organisation” by the group to take account of global economic conditions.
The redundancies would be sought to protect the remaining 120 jobs at the plant, which was currently loss-making, according to a statement issued yesterday.
There have been fears of job losses at the plant, established in 1985, since June when the group announced it was to concentrate the quick-start glow plugs part of its operation in its existing Ludwigsburg plant. At one stage up to 100 job losses were feared.
Yesterday, senior group management addressed workers. In a statement to the media, the company said Beru’s electronic components for the car industry have been very severely affected by the global downturn where there has been a major decline in the volume of premium and diesel cars produced worldwide. In June, it had been hoped to attract new business lines to compensate for the loss of product manufacture to the Ludwigsburg plant but this had not been possible.
Beru stressed it remained committed to Ireland and aimed to return to profitability. It had sought in June to avoid job losses in Tralee using a voluntary redundancy scheme and short- time working during the year, it said. It closed other plants in Italy, Hungary, Mexico and Korea, implementing staff reductions and wage cuts worldwide.
Plant manager Paddy Lange said: “Decisions of this nature are regrettable and distressing for all of our staff and the wider community. We must address the overcapacity that exists in our international production facilities. While this has already involved plant closures and job losses in other countries, we are hopeful of sustaining and securing the future of our long-standing operations in Tralee as market conditions improve.”
Workers yesterday said they still did not know where the redundancies would be sought. However, the job losses were not as severe as expected as it was feared the plant would close altogether.
Management meets Siptu on Monday. The news is a further blow to the town, said Siptu branch secretary Con Casey.
Tralee already lost Amann Industries, also German-owned, which employed 330 people.