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Nortel cuts Irish jobs -- again
Wednesday, October 02 2002
by Matthew Clark


More jobs are set to go at Nortel Networks in both Northern Ireland and the
Republic, adding up to 1,400 Nortel job cuts in Ireland in the last two years. 


The Canadian telecoms equipment manufacturer said on Wednesday that 200 positions
will be made redundant at the company's facility in Monkstown, Northern Ireland
over the coming weeks. The firm has already entered into discussions with
employee representatives over the cuts, which will cut across all division at the
plant. Nortel currently employs 970 in Northern Ireland. 



Meanwhile, in the Republic of Ireland, at the company's research and development
centre in Galway, about 20 jobs will go. That facility currently has about 370
workers who are employed in research and development as well as in treasury
functions. A company spokesperson said that the Galway cuts could hit R&D
personnel as well as other workers. 



The cuts come after Nortel said in August it would have to trim another 7,000
jobs globally, warning that third quarter revenues would not meet expectations.
At the time the company said that revenue would be as much as 10 percent lower
than previous announced guidance. Those 7,000 cuts, set for completion by the end
of the fourth quarter, will reduce Nortel's global headcount to 35,000. And these
cuts, according to Nortel, are designed to bring the business back to breakeven,
which now stands at quarterly revenue of around USD2.6 billion, compared to its
earlier target of USD3.2 billion. 



The lost jobs follow what seems to be a never-ending stream of cuts in Ireland.
In fact Nortel's 60,000 global job cuts since January 2001 have had a devastating
effect in its Irish operations, with over 1,200 jobs lost in Northern Ireland
over the past two years. The company's operations in the Republic have not fared
much better, having experienced 150 layoffs in October 2001, followed by more
losses in May 2002 and again in July when 40 employees lost their jobs. 



Still, a Nortel spokesperson said that the company's Monkstown facility was
"critical" to the European operation of Nortel and that the company had no
plans to shut the factory altogether. 



In its last set of results, the Canadian company matched forecasts with a pro
forma loss of USD0.09 a share in the quarter with sales of USD2.77 billion, just
slightly below consensus targets of USD2.8 billion.  Second-quarter net loss
was USD697 million, or USD0.20 a share, much better than last year's loss of
USD19.4 billion, or USD6.08 per share, which was mostly due to a USD14 billion
write-down for acquisitions. 

 

The move however follows a number of dreary announcements from telecoms
manufacturers in the North, including the closure of Getty Connections last week
with a loss of 135 jobs, and 80 jobs cut recently announced by Solectron in the
province.