NORTEL JOB CUTS A MASSIVE BLOW FOR LOCAL ECONOMY
THE loss of more than 80 jobs at Nortel's Monkstown facility has been described as "a massive blow" for the local area.
The telecommunications company announced on Monday that 87 people would be made redundant at the plant - part of some 220 job cuts across its UK operations.
Last month the Canadian-owned firm revealed that it was planning to shed over 3,000 jobs worldwide.
East Antrim MLA Sean Neeson said the job losses would hit the local community extremely hard.
"This announcement is very tough on those affected and their families. Now is not a good time to be looking for work and I would call on the relevant Stormont Ministers to put in place measures to support those facing redundancy," he said.
"East Antrim has had an extremely tough time in recent months, with a number of redundancies being made at other companies too. The Stormont Executive must not sit on its hands during this difficult period - we need radical thought to produce a sustainable approach to addressing the downturn," the Alliance Enterprise spokesman added.
Ulster Unionist MLA Ken Robinson has called on Stormont Ministers Reg Empey (Employment) and Arlene Foster (Enterprise, Trade & Investment) to do all they can to help those directly affected by the job losses.
"In East Antrim the vast majority of our jobs are provided by the private sector and so announcements of job losses are felt more keenly in this constituency since we have the lowest number of public sector posts of all the 18 Northern Ireland constituencies.
"I would now ask both Ministers involved to redouble their efforts to reduce the impact of these 87 redundancies and to ensure that all the support networks move quickly to help those directly affected," he commented.
The manufacturing facility, opened in the 1960s as Standard Telephone and Cables, was bought by Nortel in 1992.
Just over 400 people are now employed at the Doagh Road site, which is the headquarters of Nortel's European, Middle East and Africa supply chain operations.
Speculation about the future of the Monkstown site has been rife since Nortel's UK operation went into administration in January after its parent firm filed for US bankruptcy protection.
Despite the latest staff cuts, the company says that it's still business as usual at the Doagh Road facility.
The job losses at Nortel are the latest in a series of redundancies at local firms which have seen the number of people out of work in the Newtownabbey area rise by a massive 78 per cent over the past 12 months.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Newtownabbey
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South east
