Two Shannon firms to shed 130 jobs

About 130 jobs are set to go in Shannon, with Tecnotree and GE Money both announcing redundancies. Tecnotree is to let around 80 people go, with GE Money set to reduce its workforce by 50.

GE Money currently employs close to 180 people in Shannon and it provides customer services for auto, personal loan and equipment leasing, along with payout and telesales for auto finance products.
In a statement, the company said it would be stepping back from some areas of business and reducing the firm’s collections teams in response to lower than anticipated levels of activity. It will also decrease the size of some selected functions in line with lower levels of business.
“GE Money has communicated these decisions to its staff and will immediately start a consultation process with the people whose roles may be impacted by the changes. The company will seek to redeploy as many affected employees as possible into other areas of the business where vacancies exist and will be working closely with affected staff to provide them with the information and support to help them make informed decisions,” the company said.
“The statements announced today form part of the company’s strategy to transform the focus and capability of the Irish business in response to the economic environment, which has remained challenging and where the outlook remains unclear. These circumstances have required the company to continually reassess the size and structure of its Irish business,” it added.
Tecnotree released a statement to the stock exchange on Tuesday night outlining its position.
It claimed that the redundancies were due to “reduction in demand and global economic conditions”. Like GE Money, it is set to begin a consultation process with workers, neither of the companies deal with unions.
Tecnotree makes software systems and the majority of its employees are highly skilled, holding positions such as software designers, software developers, systems testers and support engineers. It produces ‘big ticket’ software systems and there are 141 workers there at present.
Both companies have said that despite the job cuts they are committed to remaining in Shannon.
Mayor of Shannon Seán McLoughlin said that he was very disappointed with the job losses and that he hoped the firms involved would recover and eventually increase the numbers they employ. His fellow town councillor, Patricia McCarthy, also expressed disappointment with the news. “It’s a new phase of job losses and we’re also aware of the position with Aer Lingus, so today is a very black day for Shannon,” she said.
Mayor of Clare Tony Mulcahy said that the Government should make an application for Shannon to the EU’s globalisation fund. “It’s for areas that have lost more than 500 jobs and we’ve lost more than that in Shannon in recent times,” he said.
He also called for support to be given to companies to retain existing jobs.
Clare TD Joe Carey said that there is a need for support for the Mid-West. “The loss of 130 jobs is devastating news for both the workers and their families. Last month’s live register figures show that there is a levelling out of figures nationally for the first time in 18 months. Yet, the Mid-West bucks that trend. With the loss of jobs in both these workplaces, it is high time the Government implemented the recommendations of the Mid-West Taskforce Interim report. The chairman of the Mid-West Taskforce warned if these recommendations were not heeded, we will face a 20% unemployment rate in this region in 2010.”
His colleague Pat Breen said its essential that credit becomes more freely available. “We will continue to witness more job losses in companies like GE Money unless this Government gets to trips with the banking crisis and ensures that credit begins to flow in our economy.”