52 staff facing redundancy at Finsa

THE Scariff-based chipboard factory told union committee members of its plans to make 52 workers redundant last Thursday afternoon in what came as a shock to workers who were on two weeks’ leave for Christmas.

It is understood that early indications prior to Christmas suggested the possibility of between seven and 20 job cuts, however, the collective redundancy of 52 workers had come out of the blue to workers.
SIPTU and TEEU trade unions are currently in conciliation talks with the company in relation to compensation for the workers affected. It is also understood from union officials that the cuts affect 32 SIPTU employees and 20 TEEU employees.
A spokesperson for Scariff Community Council said the effect of previous job losses at the Finsa plant is already being seen in the village and the proposed cuts will now present further challenges for Scariff and the greater East Clare area.
Loretta Brody, chairperson of Scariff Community Council said, “We are all devastated. A lot of people have lost their jobs already so the writing has been on the wall for a while. The company had 160 employed two years ago so it has been a gradual thing. It is devastating and is a big blow for the whole community and it will impact on all of East Clare. The effects are showing already in Scariff, a number of businesses have closed down in the town over the last year. These job cuts will take money out of the town and people won’t have the money to spend here. You have to have a bit of hope for the future, though, that they might see their way towards building it up again – it has been the biggest employer for the last 50 years.”
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Tuamgraney, Damian Heaney, chairman of the local development association, said the chipboard factory is “the bedrock of the local economy”.
“Obviously, this will have a devastating effect if you look around Scariff, beyond Finsa. There isn’t anything of that magnitude so any hint of job losses is one fear that everyone has. The news is bad, it is very bad and people are asking is this the first step towards the closing of Finsa altogether? Like all packages, it is only going to last so long and no matter what package people get, it is not just 52 people affected it is 52 families and that will have a huge negative effect on an area already deprived of jobs,” Mr Heaney said.
“One hope I have is that local politicians would find a place on their agenda to encourage industry into the area or to generate a project to give employment to these people. I know it is a situation faced by many across the country but we have to look after our own. We can only hope that 2011 gets better from here because it really has started badly,” Mr Heaney said.
Meanwhile, local deputy Timmy Dooley said Finsa’s announcement “is devastating news”.
“Great recognition needs to be given to the workers who tried very hard to help the company through this, they were working rotas and many were on three-day weeks. It is a devastating blow for East Clare and it is incumbent on us now to assist the employees who have been made redundant,” he said.
Councillor Joe Cooney echoed Mr Heaney’s comments.
“We are faced with the loss of 52 jobs in the first week of the new year. People are very upset. The chipboard factory and Finsa are part of the life of East Clare and Scariff. The downturn didn’t help the situation but I feel more should have been done by management to prevent this from happening,” Councillor Cooney concluded.
Councillor Pat Hayes said he was “extremely disappointed with the decision of one the major industries in East Clare, and we have very few of them, to lay off over 50 people”.
“A lot of these people are in the farming community as well and their jobs were supporting their farms. The factory was part of the community of East Clare for a number of years. We now need to look at a job task force for East Clare and get agencies to look at new schemes to see if there are any job alternatives for people. A lot of the people losing their jobs would have a specific skill set and wouldn’t have employment opportunities. We also need to look at Finsa itself to see if there is any alternative business that could go in there that would have an added value to the products they are producing. We have a valuable resource in East Clare with the amount of timber being produced here so there might be alternatives that could be looked at in the wood industry. We also need to see if there are any employment schemes there that might offer opportunities,” he added. 
Whitegate county councillor Pat Burke said he wished “to sympathise with those workers who are now faced with being unemployed, some of whom have given up to 40 years service at the Scariff factory”.
“Chipboard was a major employer in the East Clare area but has been haemorrhaging jobs on an on-going basis over the last two years. I hope the people that are being made redundant will be treated fairly by the company when it comes to severance packages and I am calling on management at Finsa to make a statement outlining the future of the factory and the workforce that remain,” Councillor Burke said.
Current General Election candidate Michael McNamara (Labour), who hails from Scariff, said the announcement has not “come as a huge shock but is still very disappointing”.
“At its peak, the chipboard factory employed up to 400 people and now as a result of the latest news chipboard is no longer being made here. Fifty plus jobs in a small town is a huge blow. We need to be very clear we need to prioritise jobs over anything else. I would be proposing that we need to now expand community employment schemes across the county to ensure that long-term unemployment doesn’t set in while we wait for the new government economic policy to come through,” Mr McNamara concluded.