Baxter job losses body blow to Castlebar

Baxter job losses body blow for Castlebar


Northgate plans for 150 jobs overshadowed

Áine Ryan

Some Baxter Healthcare workers first heard confirmation of the significant job losses at the Castlebar plant on local radio yesterday morning, The Mayo News can reveal. Despite the fact that a statement about the job losses was prepared over a week ago, Cllr  Thérèse Ruane has confirmed that some workers at the county town’s main employer were ‘doing their shift yesterday morning when they heard the news on Mid-West Radio’.
Warning Taoiseach Enda Kenny – who is in Japan on a trade mission – that his home town is on its knees jobs-wise, Cllr Runae said  last week’s good news about the creation of 150 new jobs by Northgate Information Solutions is now overshadowed by the Baxter blow.
The bad news for the county town comes just days after the upbeat announcement, attended by Enda Kenny on Wednesday last, that the health services company, Northgate, will create 150 jobs in the information technology sector, in Castlebar.
It is understood the staff on the weekend shift in Baxter were told of the job losses on Sunday.
Speaking to The Mayo News last night, Cllr Ruane said the town was ‘reeling’ from the ‘shock news’
 “There had been rumours and texts flying around all weekend but nobody had told the workers officially. I understand management had been advised of the situation over the weekend but the workers were only called into a meeting at 10.45am yesterday morning (Monday) where they were told that there would be 110 job losses and they could apply for voluntary redundancy.”
“I am calling for immediate government intervention on this. An Taoiseach and Government Ministers need to engage with the company to see if there is any way in which these jobs can be saved. They must also focus their minds and efforts, engage with the IDA, and other state agencies to secure employment for people in Castlebar and Mayo,” she also said.
Unsurprisingly,  this weekend’s ‘devastating’ news has led to a chorus of calls for both the Taoiseach and government to urgently put the west on a level playing pitch, with the east and south, regarding job creation.  
Responding, Fianna FΡil’s Spokesperson on Jobs, Deputy Dara Calleary, said news that one of the county’s major employers was cutting its Castlebar workforce ‘comes as a major blow to the local economy’.
Urging that staff be given ‘every support possible, he said: “What is particularly worrying is that Baxter is choosing to move some of its Castlebar operation abroad. It comes less than a week after another major manufacturer in the healthcare sector, MSD, announced plans to close a major factory in Swords, County Dublin, to relocate some operations abroad.”
Mr Calleary said these announcements are ‘a warning to the government not to take the future of the healthcare manufacturing sector in Ireland for granted’.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Michelle Mulherin welcomed last week’s jobs announcement but  also sympathised with the Baxter workers.
“I am now calling on the IDA to visit Mayo and set out their plans for further job creation and attracting Foreign Direct Investment,” she said.
Noting that Mayo had a good track record with multi-nationals, Ms Mulherin said: “I am confident this government investment which is addressing our long-standing infrastructural deficit can help result in further job creation and I am calling on the IDA to do their job for our county in this regard.”

Redundancies
THE pharmaceuticals company confirmed in a statement seen by The Mayo News yesterday morning, but dated November 25, that it plans to reduce its weekend shift over the next year by implementing a programme of 110 voluntary redundancies across all shifts at the Castlebar plant. It said the ‘majority of these reductions will be implemented during the first quarter of 2014’.
The cutbacks relate to a drive by the company to rationalise its global manufacturing network thus improving ‘greater supply chain efficiency’ and ‘flexibility’.
“Baxter has maintained a weekend shift at its Castlebar facility for the last ten years in order to accommodate a growing product portfolio and product demand, and has continued to make significant investments in infrastructure, automation and capacity for products at the facility in recent years,” the statement said.
It continued: “Employees from across all shifts at the facility will be given the option to volunteer for redundancy, thereby reducing the number of involuntary reduction. The company will be assisting affected employees in this transition through redundancy packages and other support services.”
It confirms that the 27,000-square-metre facility, which produces products used in the treatment of kidney disease ‘will continue to remain an important and integral part of the Baxter manufacturing network worldwide’.  
It is just two years since the multinational implemented another significant staff cull when it announced it was reducing its staff in Mayo by 200, 50 of which were employees with temporary contracts. At the time it cited the global economic downturn as its rationale, adding an ongoing need for improved cost-competitiveness as another factor.  
Baxter Ireland was established over 40 years ago and now employs 1,000 people in its Mayo plants at Castlebar and Swinford. It has business centres in Dublin and Belfast, a compounding facility in Dublin and renal care centres in Antrim and Dublin. It also has a European Financial Shared Services Centre in Dublin. Baxter has been a leader in the healthcare industry for over 80 years, with 49,700 employees worldwide.

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