Jobs blow as Nortel announces 200 cuts
Northern Ireland suffered another serious jobs blow today when Canadian telecommunications company Nortel announced it was getting rid of another 200 workers at its Co Antrim plant.
The company has been slashing its workforce since the start of last year, and the latest cuts will reduce the workforce at the Monkstown plant to 780 from a peak of just over 2,000.
The redundancies will see 120 jobs go in the company’s crucial research and development division, and 80 from the operations department.
The announcement was the local result of an announcement by Nortel headquarters in August that it was to cut 7,000 jobs worldwide as it attempted to stem losses following a sales slump.
The Co Antrim plant makes telecommunications transmission equipment and has been a market leader in the provision of fibre optics.
The operation is Nortel‘s largest European optical systems house and last year won the company the Northern Ireland Exporter of the Year Award.
A company spokesman said they recognised it was a difficult time for the employees and they had entered into discussions with the trade unions to mitigate the effects.
The job losses are the third in the East Antrim area since last Friday - all in the high-tech sector.
US electronics company Solectron announced 80 redundancies at its Carrickfergus plant and another 135 jobs are to go in the town with the closure of local company Getty Communications by the end of the year.
The jobs crisis in the area has prompted Northern Ireland Enterprise , Trade and Investment Minister Reg Empey to call a forum of local representatives next week to see what, if anything, can be done to help the situation.
