Workers at German-owned car components company Kostal have been told that the company is seeking 300 voluntary redundancies.
The company is seeking 200 at its plant in Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick and 100 more in Mallow, Co Cork.
It is also seeking to introduce short-time working for all employees until the end of March. If there are not enough voluntary redundancies, compulsory redundancies will be sought.
The company said there was a 30% reduction in orders last year and that was not expected to improve given the current difficult economic circumstances.
It said it is committed to maintaining its Irish operation in the future and will be meeting with unions next week to discuss how best this can be achieved to procure a long-term strategy for the future.
The majority of the workers come from the south Limerick-north Kerry area.
They expressed their shock and disappointment at the announcement - others however expressed relief that the cuts in job layoffs were not as big as had been expected.
SIPTU represents workers at the company and will be meeting the firm during the coming week.
There are approximately 600 employees represented by SIPTU in Abbeyfeale and 400 in Mallow.
150 redundancies at SITEL in Dublin
SITEL is planning just over 150 redundancies at its operation in Blanchardstown in Dublin.
A spokesman confirmed that the company had entered into a consultation period with workers on the plan.
The company runs customer services on behalf of a number of multinational companies.
SITEL had been operating a call centre for eBay at the Internet auction site's facility in Blanchardstown.
The company is a subsidiary of the US-based SITEL Corporation, which employs 66,000 people worldwide.
It will no longer have any businesses in Ireland when the Blanchardstown operation is ended.
It handled the registrations for the Eircom flotation in 1999.
Three-day week at Iralco
Workers at the Iralco Plant in Collinstown, Co Westmeath are to start on a three-day a week from today.
A spokesperson for the company, which was threatened with closure last year, said the decision to move to a three-day a week was to safeguard jobs and ensure there were no job losses.
The spokesperson did not wish to specify how long workers at the car component plant would be placed on a three-day a week.
Elsewhere, Taconic International in Mullingar Co Westmeath has announced the closure of its ADD Plant in the town resulting in the loss of 32 jobs.
Taconic International has two plants in Mullingar: the ADD Plant (Advanced Dielectric Division) and the IPD Plant (Industrial Products Division).
The company is involved in the chemical coatings for industrial, architectural, electronic and telecommunication products and employs a total of 117 people in Mullingar.
A SIPTU spokesperson said that following meetings with the company today, Taconic have decided to close it ADD Plant due to the strength of the Euro against the Dollar and a fall in orders.
Negotiations for redundancies for the 32 employees will get under way on Monday 26 January.
A further 20 people lost their jobs in Longford following the closure of Brooks builders providers.
