The Irish Times is to cut its workforce by 250 people. The company has suffered a downturn in the last year. Union representatives had a meeting with management today to hear about the difficulties facing the newspaper.
Staff at the Irish Times were given the news about the job cuts at 11.30am. Two hundred and fifty out of the workforce of over 700 people are to be phased out between now and the end of next July.
The losses incurred by the company this year are believed to be £2m. Losses next year may total £17.5m, of which £14m will be suffered by the newspaper itself.
Unions were told that the cuts would be made across the board. One hundred people will lose their jobs by the end of January, and 50 more will be gone by the end of March.
Fifty people will go by the end of May and another 50 by the end of July. The first reaction from staff was of shock and dismay at the scale of the cuts.
In a statement this evening, the Irish Times' NUJ chapel said that the notion of compulsory redundancies was "completely unnecessary". The union said that, it was seeking independent financial analysis, and that its priority was to resist job cuts.
In a separate development, 90 workers are to lose their jobs at Logica, which develops mobile phone software. A company spokesman said that the lay-offs would be spread between its plants in Dublin and Cork.
Most of its workers are highly skilled engineer developers. Around 50 lay-offs will be compulsory. The remainder will be voluntary. Yesterday, the Celestica technology plant in North Dublin announced it would be laying off 450 workers.
Oglesby and Butler, in Carlow, today announced plans for short time working and other cutbacks. The company, which manufactures soldering irons, employs over 100 people. It said that today's announcement was a result of the worldwide economic downturn.
Also in Carlow, 16 jobs are to go at Crotty's bakery and shop when it closes this weekend, after 48 years in business. The owners say that increased competition from supermarkets and other outlets has resulted in the closure.
