GE Healthcare at Carrigtwohill in Co Cork has confirmed that 50 jobs are to go at the IDA Ireland-sponsored company over the coming 12 months.
A spokesman for GE said staff were told yesterday that demand for the products made at the plant had levelled off and reorganisation, leading to 50 job losses over the next year, was necessary.
He said that less than half of these lay-offs would be forced redundancies.
The company currently employs almost 500 people who manufacture medical diagnostic products for global distribution. Recently a €15m expansion at the plant was completed.
And a Co Tyrone engineering company is to make 90 people redundant following a drop in orders. Dungannon-based Powerscreen had already made 70 workers redundant at the end of last year.
The company, which manufactures mobile screening equipment used in the construction, mining and recycling industries, employs 490 staff.
The announcement follows a review of global operations by its US parent company, Terex. Terex also owns Terex Finlay in Omagh, which employs over 300 people and another company in Leicestershire, England.
Terex has said it is reorganising the business because of the slowdown in orders worldwide. In all, there will be more than 300 redundancies, more than 200 of them at the Leicestershire plant.
At present, it is thought that no jobs will be lost at the Terex Finlay plant in Omagh.
Meanwhile, the games company Hasbro is to seek short time working at its Waterford factory in two weeks time. Employees are being asked to take an extra 15 days extra unpaid leave from February 9.
Management says that, given the current economic situation, it is building only to current customer orders. Hasbro says it will do everything possible to minimise the impact on the 300 employees and expects to return to full production as soon as possible.
