The cosmetics manufacturer, Procter and Gamble, has apologised that news of job losses at its plant in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was disclosed prematurely yesterday by another part of the company.
The company announced to its workers this morning that 280 jobs were to be lost at the plant by the end of 2009.
Procter and Gamble said skincare production there would move to a new factory being built in Poland and 220 jobs would remain in Ireland.
In a statement this afternoon, it said it had been its intention to inform its workers of any decision before it was shared with the media and it regretted the news was disclosed before today's meeting.
The new plant in the city of Lodz is expected to be completed in 2009. The company said 220 jobs would remain at Nenagh to continue manufacturing cosmetics for supply to all European markets.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's News At One, SIPTU's Branch Organiser in Nenagh, Martin Meere, expressed relief that the entire plant had not been closed.
He said the union would do everything it could to try to get the company to reverse its decision before the jobs were lost.
Workers not to blame - Martin
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, has described the job losses as very disappointing.
He praised the workforce in Nenagh and said the decision was a global strategic one and not based on the performance of the workers.
The minister said workers would be assisted in finding alternative employment.
And despite the view that manufacturing is in steep decline, many of the jobs being created here are in this sector, he said.
Nenagh Chamber of Commerce described the announcement as regrettable and called for industrial landbanks in the area to be used as a resource to facilitate job creation.
The jobs losses come after a year-long sourcing study to identify the optimum manufacturing locations for the supply of P&G's skincare and cosmetics to Europe.
In a statement, the company's management said it is now committed to focusing all its efforts on helping those employees affected by this decision and will work with the unions and employees to prepare for the transition ahead.
The plant manager, Mindy Thompson, said this was a very difficult decision taken on the basis of market trends and is not a reflection of the high quality work of P&G employees at Nenagh.
