The Shannon-based company Element Six informed its staff today that the company intends to cut 150 jobs before the end of the year.
The company, formerly owned by DeBeers but now only part-owned by the diamond industry giant, currently employs 620 in the manufacture and distribution of industrial diamonds and super-hard materials.
These job reductions are part of a group wide cost saving programme in the company, not just in Ireland but across the world.
'Our major customers include those in construction, automotive, general engineering and the drilling for oil and gas. All of these are caught up in the down turn in global business,' commented Ken Sullivan, General Manager of the Shannon site.
The company said it will immediately be entering discussions with the employees and their representatives.
Element Six is the world's largest manufacturer of industrial diamond and has plants in South Africa, Sweden, Isle of Man, UK, China and the Ukraine.
SIPTU has asked for a meeting with the firm in relation to the job losses.
In a statement, the union said it hoped that rewarding redundany packages could be agreed.
'This is not the first time a downturn in the market for industrial diamonds has resulted in job losses at Shannon and we have always succeeded in negotiating decent redundancy terms for people in the past. We expect to do so again,' said SIPTU Branch Organiser Tony Carroll.
