Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Waterford received great news today when Teva Pharmaceuticals announced 165 new jobs as part of a EUR65 million expansion in its facility in the region.
The jobs will be created across a number of skills including Manufacturing, R&D, Quality and Support. So I guess all production and manufacturing is not leaving these shores after all. The above jobs will come on line over the next 5 years.
Teva currently employs 650 staff in Waterford. It is part of a buoyant sector in Ireland. Most of the top pharmaceutical companies have operations in Ireland. In total there are about 20,000 people directly employed by the sector in Ireland.
Tags: Ireland, Irish Jobs, Manufacturing, Munster, Pharmaceutical Sector, Quality, R&D, Support, Teva, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Waterford
Posted in Jobs, News | 2 Comments »
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Microprint has announced that it will close its Tallaght plant in April with the loss of 130 jobs. This is tough news for the region as there were 230 jobs lost in February with the announcement from Jacobs.
It was stated that increased competition and doubts over key contracts were the reasons for the decision. But could it be that we are not buying enough RTE Guides as this is one of a number of publications that the company prints.
I guess that a high cost base played a major factor in this decision as it would have had an impact on the competitiveness of the company. Anyway the 130 staff are probably not worried why and are more concerned about transition into new employment as soon as possible.
Tags: Dublin, Ireland, Irish Jobs Loss, Jacobs, Jobs Loss, Microprint, Redundancy, RTE, Tallaght, UK
Posted in Jobs, News, Redundancy | 2 Comments »
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Following a landmark ruling employers will no longer be able to sack employees who fail what is deemed a flawed drug tests. All tests will have to comply with a European Standard.
This all stems from a Luas worker being sacked for failing a drug test. He was sacked in September 2006 but his union argued that his result fell below the recognised cut-off point in Europe. This cut-off point is important as readings below can be explained by factors such as being in the room where someone else was smoking drugs. His employer Alstom has a zero policy to drugs but the Labour Court that no code of practice was agreed. This code of conduct had to be agreed with Trade Unions.
This ruling will have implications on many workers in Ireland who are already subject to random drug tests but also organisation like CIE who are implementing random testing.
Tags: Alstom, CIE, Drugs at Work, Ireland, Luas, Random Drug Tests, Union
Posted in HR, News | No Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
There has been a 2.8bn plan put in place to upskill 500,000 workers in Ireland by 2020. The government will have this plan in place by the summer. We were promised The Port Tunnel, Airport Transport Links , M50 all on-time and on budget so I am asking you not to hold out for the summer deadline or proposed cost. This aside I think it is an excellent initiative. It will be a huge project and it will involve bodies like FAS, Universities, VEC’s, employers and obviously the workers.
The obvious problem here is getting the balance right for employers – current versus future demands. Employers on the one hand will reap the long-term benefits of a better skilled workforce BUT in the short term they have to cope with supporting staff through the education and training.
There will have to be flexibility by staff and employees but as we have seen recently with various trade union employer spats and even GAA spats that the various stakeholders in a situation are often not prepared to give ground
Tags: FAS, GAA, Government, Ireland, M50, Port Tunnel, Trade Unions, Universities, Upskill, VEC
Posted in HR, News | No Comments »
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
GlaxoSmithKline announced 100 redundancies in Cork today. This is a blow for the Pharmaceutical sector as they are good employers in the region – 1600 staff. Poor sales were put forward as the reason for Job Loss.
A redundancy cloud hangs over SR Technics with suggestions that 200 jobs could go as a result of lost contract. SR Technics lost 3 of the 4 contracts they had with Aer Lingus. Fortunately they held on the Line maintenance contract which if lost could have threatened the bulk of the 1500 staff currently employed.
The above news was in contrast with new job announcements in Dublin and Belfast. ServiceSource is to create 100 jobs in Dublin and Fidessa 26 jobs in Belfast.
Tags: Belfast Jobs, Cork Jobs, Dublin Jobs, Fidessa, GlaxoSmithKline, Pharmaceutical Sector, Redundancy, ServiceSource, SR Technics
Posted in Jobs, News, Redundancy | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
A KPMG report has found that over half of Irish firms intent to increase their spend on IT this year. Would this explain why most Senior Technical Executives are optimistic about the performance of the IT sector in 2008.
The fact that IT investment will increase with the cloud of pessimism over the economy is significant for IT sector as traditionally IT spend was considered optional rather than necessary.
At least one sector is rubbing its hands with the prospect of good news in 2008. The construction sector with hit with more bad news today with the number of new home completions to fall again this year
Tags: 2008, Construction Sector, Information Technology, Investment, Ireland, Irish, IT Professionals, IT Sector, Technology
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
There seems to be quite a bit of bullish optimism across the Irish economy – glass half full stuff. Today it is the turn of the IT sector. I hope these voices are that of realism and not a case of dillusion like our good friend from Iraq “Comical Ali” – remember his statements about the US forces with a US tank in the background.
Anyway today I am going to believe what I have read.
The IT sector looks set to have a bright 2008. Over 50% of Senior Technology Executives surveyed were confident about the prospects for the sector in 2008. 68% of those surveyed expected to hire staff this year. Of note is that 48% felt that it was getting more difficult to recruit good staff.
So all the IT professionals who left the sector after the 2000 dotbomb – come back we need you!!
Tags: 2008, Dotbomb, Information Technology, Ireland, Irish, Irish Economy, IT Professionals, IT Sector, Jobs, Senior Executive, US
Posted in Jobs, News | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Today’s Independent highlighted the plight of many foreign workers who are being abused behind the closed doors of wealthy Irish homes. There is an increase in the number of cases being brought before the Rights Commission due to the level of abuse, with incidents such as withheld passports, threats of deportation, long working days, no overtime and general poor conditions being common.
The article highlighted one example: A Vietnamese worker had been working for an Irish couple for 50 Euro a week after deductions. The woman’s children were involved in a horrific car accident and she wanted to go home for a month but was told she would have to work up the airfare. Only when she was loaned to another couple for a party did the story come out and she was put in touch with SIPTU. When her employers found out they drove her to the airport and put her on the 1st flight home. This article and related stories make me sick. This problem is not just confined to Irish homes or to foreign workers. Mistreatment of staff is evident throughout Irish workplaces. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure this is stamped out.
It is easy for me to say that employees should speak up. It is difficult for affected employees as it is a lonely place to be. I regularly deal with employees who are changing jobs to run away from a situation – make my blood boil.
I accept that stories of mistreatment/bullying can hide performance issues and that the employee is not always the victim. But stories like that outlined above have no place in work.
If you employ staff perhaps increase your awareness to the possibility that this may be happening on your premises or you could be in for an expensive shock. If you are a co-worker and see this happening reach out a helping hand. If you are an affected party there are supports available.
Tags: Abuse, Bullying, Employees, Employers, Foreign Workers, Ireland, Rights Commission, SIPTU, Vietnamese Worker, Workplace
Posted in News | No Comments »
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Eircom is still the most popular internet services provider in Ireland but rivals are eating up market share. Eircom’s home internet market share slipped in 2007 according to figures released by ComReg. Those increasing market share include Clearwire, Perlico, Irish Broadband and BT Ireland.
Most of you reading won’t really care about market share as long as you get broadband facilities in your homes. The broadband topic has a huge impact on the whole work life balance issue for employers and employees. It is crazy to think that I spoke with a colleague just last week who was struggling with broadband coverage making his dream of remote working difficult.
I work from home and I use Eircom whom I find very good. My problem is electricity as we have had a large number of problems in the area. No electricity means not internet or landline. And all this means no business.
Who is to blame for all these problems? I don’t think another Tribunal would answer that one.
The bottom line is that infrastructure, technology, roads etc is impacting business.
Tags: Broadband, Business, Clearwire, ComReg, Eircom, Electricity, Infrastructure, Internet Services Provider, Ireland, Irish Broadband, Perlico, Roads, Technology, Tribunal
Posted in News, Work-life Balance | No Comments »
