80 jobs lost at Carrickfergus electronics facility

Carrickfergus has received yet more bad news in terms of employment, following the decision by US electronics firm Solectron to make 80 employees redundant at its County Antrim facility.

The announcement comes just days after Getty Connections revealed that it is to close its plant in the town, which will see the loss of 135 jobs. It had been feared that Solectron would also move to close its Carrickfergus facility, which would see most of the 230-strong workforce lose their jobs, with the rest being forced to transfer to another factory.

In a statement made on Monday 30 September, the company revealed that 80 people are to be made redundant, with the future of the firm's presence in Carrickfergus still uncertain.

The job cuts come as Solectron feels the force of the economic downturn in the IT sector, with Nortel – the company's main customer – suffering a downturn in orders, which has seen decreased demand for Solectron's circuit boards.

Andrew Marshall, General Manager at the site, said: "It has been a difficult year and Carrickfergus has been severely affected through the year, and unfortunately the outlook continues to decline."

Solectron shut a similar a factory in Carrickfergus last year with the loss of 200 jobs and, more recently, have pulled the plug on their Irish operations in Dublin, with the closure of their plant in the Clonshaugh Industrial Estate - a facility, which Solectron said, had not been profitable for more than two years.

In all, worldwide losses for the firm totalled $126 million in the last quarter, a deficit which has seen the company cut 30,000 jobs throughout its sites as part of a global restructuring programme which commenced in 2001.

(CL)