A major Newry firm is proposing to cut 51 jobs at its factory at the Greenbank Industrial Park.
The move by Glen Electric (part of the Glex Dimplex group), which was established in the city on 1973, has come as a shock locally.
Sinn Féin MP Dáire Hughes has called on the management to change course.
“These proposed redundancies are devastating news for workers in Glen Electric,” said the Newry and Armagh representative.
“Working families are already struggling and the threat of redundancy is catastrophic. These job losses would be a major blow for Newry. Local staff have worked hard at the Newry site for decades and deserve much better than this.
“Glen Electric was established in Newry in 1973 and has grown, thanks to the efforts of its workers, into a major and profitable international company. Local staff worked to facilitate the transfer of products to eastern Europe on the basis that new investment in renewable energy products would follow. This did not happen and management must now change course to avoid these devastating job losses.
“The company is profitable and the Newry site is viable. Every effort must be made to avoid redundancies.
“I have been speaking to workers and their representatives and we will continue to support them at this time.”
People Before Profit’s Newry & Armagh Representative Marc Mac Seáin condemned the move, calling on the Executive and local council to intervene urgently to protect workers’ jobs: “It is deeply worrying that a local company plans to axe a huge proportion of its workforce, leaving workers out of a job. Glen Electric reported a pre-tax profit of £126.5m in 2024 so this decision is clearly not one which they are being forced to make from a position of financial precarity. Shamefully, this comes on the heels of previous promises to invest in the decades-old Newry site, leaving workers totally blindsided by the about-turn. When we approached Glen Electric for comment they made no statement.
“We are calling for urgent intervention from the Stormont Executive and the local council to defend workers at this site by staving off job losses. If the intention is to move these jobs elsewhere for cheaper labour costs then this must be challenged.
“We offer our full support to the workers and to their union in whatever action they pursue to mitigate the loss of jobs in Newry. We understand SIPTU in consultation to secure employment for their members.”
A worker in the Glen Electric Newry factory also commented: “Newry employees facilitated the move of production operations to China and Lithuania in good faith as new products and investment were promised to Newry they now feel they have been shafted as it now seems to be the aim of the company to systematically downsize and eventually move all its business out of Ireland and its UK based manufacturing sites.
“It’s a very sad day to see this happening as Glen electrics (now a global business) reduces its workforce to ultimately a skeleton crew founded in Newry, January 1973.
“Many at the Newry sites now fear for their job security as they see it as the beginning of the end, as it has been also announced they’re to close one its sites in Greenbank industrial estate and sell it off for profit.”
Armagh I has contacted the company for a response.
