207 jobs to go at Shannon

SHANNON was dealt a savage blow this week with the announcement that a combined total of over 200 jobs are to be lost at Shannon Aerospace and Elsevier.

Management at Shannon Aerospace told employees on Thursday morning that 107 jobs are to be shed as part of a restructuring programme for the company. Staff at Elsevier were also informed that 100 jobs will be phased out over a two-and-a-half year period starting next April, leaving the company with just eight employees at its Shannon base.
In a statement, Thomas Rückert, managing director of Shannon Aerospace Ltd said, “This is the most difficult day ever experienced by Shannon Aerospace in its 20-year history. The company is known as a centre of excellence for training and aircraft maintenance provision and for many years, experienced excellent levels of growth.
“However, both domestic and international aerospace markets have changed significantly and the volume of work has declined considerably. Our current cost base is not only too high but is also unsustainable. To survive in this market place it is vital that we reduce our costs and improve our competitiveness. We are currently competing against facilities in regions with much lower labour costs and we have to realign Shannon Aerospace Ltd in order to respond to the massive challenges affecting our business.
“We have to restructure and this means implementing a number of redundancies to safeguard the future of the company in Ireland and protect the maximum number of jobs in the Shannon region,” he added.
Shannon Aerospace has 628 full-time employees along with 97 trainees. The company was founded 1989 and is a subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik AG. Workers at the plant perform heavy maintenance checks on Boeing 737, 737 NG, 757, 767, McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Airbus A320 family aircraft, as well as offering a comprehensive range of specialist services.
New CEO Thomas Rückert took over at the company in August, having come from Berlin to succeed Martin Kaiser.
Clare Deputy Pat Breen said the move is very disappointing. “Only last May, Shannon Aerospace announced it was expanding its services after being given new design responsibilities. Yet just a few months later, the company has announced the loss of jobs at the facility.”
He accused the Government of not giving enough support for employment in Clare. “Almost 11,000 people are already on the Live Register in Clare, which has been largely neglected by the current Government. It was deeply disappointing when the Taoiseach refused to answer questions on this crisis when I tried to raise it in the Dáil today. Some 500 potential jobs were lost to Ireland when the Tánaiste refused to facilitate Ryanair in the Hangar 6 controversy. Now Clare is obviously too far away for the Taoiseach to show any concern.”
He questioned what action had been taken by the Government and called for Enterprise Minister Batt O’Keeffe to get involved.
“The Government cannot sit idly by and let these jobs go. The previous Enterprise minister famously went to the US over the Dell jobs crisis, when it was already far too late. I would urge Minister O’Keeffe to meet immediately with local management and workers at Shannon,” Deputy Breen said.
Mayor of Shannon Tony Mulcahy said he wished all those affected by the cutbacks well and said it is yet another blow to local employment. “It’s just more bad news for Shannon. It has been here for 20 years and it has been a super company. It’s one of the biggest companies in the region now and they have given jobs to a lot of people and they’ve trained a lot of people. All we can do is wish the people involved well,” Mayor Mulcahy said.
He said that while people might think Shannon Aerospace is linked to the airport, they are not tied together. The mayor also said that while the manufacturing sector has been in difficulty for some time, it is worrying to see one of the largest service sector employers in the Mid-West making cutbacks.

Brendan Curtin, managing director of Elsevier said it was a sad day for the company. “We have arrived at this difficult proposal after an extensive and exhaustive review of many options. We understand the disruption this proposal may cause in personal lives and in our community. We will now enter a period of consultation with our colleagues and their Employee Consultation Forum. Over the following weeks, we will continue to ensure that our employees remain well informed on the process and that they receive the support they need and deserve,” he said.