Trade union Unite has warned that proposed redundancies at the Smurfit-Westrock packaging plant in Lurgan could be the first step towards the site’s eventual closure – a claim the company has not publicly addressed in detail.
On Monday, the global paper and packaging giant confirmed plans to cut 55 jobs at the Annesborough industrial estate facility, roughly a third of the workforce. The plant, a long-established producer of corrugated cardboard for the packaging sector, has operated for years with ageing machinery.
In talks with Unite, which represents the vast majority of staff on site, management is understood to have cited cost pressures and a lack of recent investment in equipment as key factors behind the decision. Work currently carried out in Lurgan would, according to the union, be transferred to a Smurfit-Westrock site in Dublin.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said there was “absolutely no justification” for the proposed cuts, pointing to the group’s latest financial results.
“There is absolutely no justification for these jobs cuts. Smurfit-Westrock is a hugely profitable company paying out hundreds of millions to shareholders every quarter,” she said.
“Instead of spending millions on golf tournaments, Tony Smurfit would be better off modernising his factories to future-proof his business.”
In financial results published in July 2026, Smurfit‑Westrock reported EBITDA of $2.2 billion (£1.7bn) in the six months to the end of June 2025. Over the same period, it paid out £474 million to shareholders in dividends and other distributions.
The company’s chief executive, Tony Smurfit – a billionaire and major shareholder – also recently announced that Smurfit‑Westrock had become a worldwide partner for the next three editions of the Ryder Cup. Press reports have estimated that sponsorship deal could be worth more than €20 million.
The Lurgan announcement is the latest in a series of blows to the wider manufacturing base in north Armagh. The area has already been hit by large-scale redundancies at Glen Dimplex and at Associated Press in Portadown in recent years, prompting repeated calls for a targeted industrial strategy from Stormont.
Unite regional officer Sean McKeever said workers believed the lack of investment at the plant had been a “long-term failure” by the company.
“Workers at Lurgan face losing their livelihoods because of the company’s long-term failure to invest and modernise,” he said.
“Unite is actively engaging with our membership on their options to respond to this attack and the longer-term threat it poses to the future of the site.
“Our members are hugely concerned that this is the first step to shutting the site. This area has already been struck with a series of job loss announcements. It is way past time Stormont intervened to end its industrial decline.”
The company has been contacted for comment.
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