Past is done, future awaits
One year on from Dell's crushing announcement, Nick Rabbitts reports on the group giving purpose to its scattered workers
IT has been a little over a year since Dell's European chief Sean Corkery made the shattering announcement: 1,900 jobs in the computer firm's Raheen plant were to be moved to Poland.
The news did not just impact the 1,900 workers and their families who had lost their main source of income - Dell's footprint was all across the Mid-West region and meant thousands more workers would be affected.
Although initial claims of 15,000 subsequent job losses were wide of the mark, thousands of people have lost their jobs, most notably in Flextronics, Banta Global Turnkey and Sercom Solutions, all major suppliers to the Texs-based computer giant.
Now the factory in Raheen has been stripped to the bones and expensive equipment from the lines previously occupied by workers at Limerick's largest employer is online for Joe Public to buy.
The people who manned those lines were the subject of much talk in the early part of last year and have since formed a group - the Dell Redundant Workers Association - to do their talking for them.
Chaired by Newcastle West man Denis Ryan - with MEP Alan Kelly as its honorary president - the association exists to provide support and information to former workers at the plant.
Notably, it is also helping workers avail of funding under the much publicised European Globalisation Fund, which can be used to help former staff return to education, retrain in another industry or start their own business.
The group succeeded the Dell Workers Representative Group, which fought for and won a better redundancy settlement for Dell staff.
Mr Ryan says they have a large number of plans - most notably setting up a co-operative movement to ensure job creation happens in the future.
"We would like to model ourselves on the situation which happened at the LEDP plant (Krups] where former workers entered into the plant, took it over, and turned it into a co-operative for retraining. Now there are more people employed there than when Krups were in place," Denis said.
The group has enjoyed plenty of help along the way: in December, Griffith College President Kevin O'Sullivan offered the group free use of their premises in Upper William Street.
And the membership numbers have soared to beyond 1,000, according to Ballynanty native Nadine Smyth, who is the first point of contact when those joining the association enter Griffith College.
One of the major success stories, according to Denis, is the fact that even older members of the association are showing such enthusiasm - despite the hammer blow of being let go by Dell.
"There was a man who was just going through the motions when he was at Dell: he came in here, and his abilities are shining through.
"He came along to me and the rest of the committee and said he needed a dictaphone, because there was so much going through his head. This man is 60 years of age. He should be getting ready for his pension - but here he is starting again," he said, "When you give someone hope like that, that's what it's all about."
Denis also hopes if or when the IDA comes back to Limerick with job creation on its mind, his group can be used as a port of call. And to this end, the group is hoping to hold meetings with the chairman of the Mid-West Jobs Task Force Denis Brosnan.
"We do not want dead wood politicians involved; we want positive people who give good ideas to create employment. The possibilities are endless. If we can get 200 or 300 jobs, and reskill people, that would be tremendous. If the IDA say 'look, there's a new company coming tomorrow, they need a certain type of worker', we can help them."
Next Monday, representatives from the Dell Redundant Workers Association will meet Junior Minister Dara Calleary - who works under Tanaiste Mary Coughlan - to discuss the European Globalisation Fund.
Asked what advice he would give to those who have left Dell over the last 12 months, and find themselves jobless - and possibly hopeless - Denis says: "This fund could be the making of you. If you have a business idea, just come in and talk to us. You are not on your own. Everyone is in the same boat here."
Read the stories of Denis and group colleagues Seamus, Nadine and Paul who have also been affected by Dell's closure and its fallout
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