Motorola, the world's second largest mobile phone maker, is to cut 7,000 jobs in its cell-phone unit and take a charge against first and second quarter results in an effort to cut costs in the slowing sales environment.
A spokesman for the company told OnBusiness that the cuts announcement will not affect the 620 Motorola jobs in Ireland.
The technology giant said the job cuts bring the total in the cell-phone unit so far this year to 12,000. Motorola last month warned that its first quarter results would not meet estimates and it could report a loss.
It blamed a significant slowdown in orders across all its business lines. The company, which shed 750 jobs in Dublin late last year, had announced earlier this year that it was cutting 4,000 jobs.
A spokesman for the company's operations in Ireland said he not expect the jobs cuts to have any impact here. Motorola employs 580 people in two plants in Cork - a semi-conductor design centre and a software development centre. 40 people are also employed in sales and battery operations in Dublin.
Motorola's manufacturing facility in Swords, Dublin was sold to Canadian electronics manufacturer Celestica last year. A spokesman for Celestica said he was confident that Motorola's latest round of job cuts would not affect the two year manufacturing agreement between the two companies.
Mike Zafirovski, president of Motorola Personal Communications Sector, said in a statement about the global job cuts today: 'Unfortunately, this was a necessary next step for us to achieve renewal and stay competitive in today's dramatic business environment, particularly given the current slowdown in the economy.'
'We anticipate growth, but at a slower pace,' he added. 'We must continue to adapt our overall cost structure, workforce and production levels to a more competitive business model.'
