Union’s ‘first priority is retention of jobs' at Wyeth plant in Limerick

A REPRESENTATIVE of the main workers’ trade union in Wyeth says its first priority will be the retention of the jobs on the Limerick site.

Ciara McMahon-Flavin of Siptu, which represents around 250 of the 542 staff on site. led a union delegation entering talks with Wyeth management this Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, she said: “Our first aim will be job retention and site retention. That will always be number one.

“We need a consultation process. I think for people within the Wyeth plant and the surrounding areas, this has been digested over the last number of days and it is a devastating blow,” she said.

Limerick Chamber chief Dee Ryan says she hopes the job creation agency IDA Ireland will be tasked with finding alternative occupiers of the vast Wyeth plant in Askeaton.

“We have a highly skilled workforce, great local assets which we talk about regularly in terms of Foynes Port, the airport and our graduates. We would be urging the government to put as much effort into that as can be done at this early stage to ensure there is another occupier identified,” said Ms Ryan.

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She’s written to Jobs Minister Simon Coveney, whose remit covers IDA Ireland to ask just this.

As part of the announcement, Nestlé announced it would cease its research operation in 2025, with its production facility closing in 2026.

The majority of staff, 491, work in this area, producing formula milk for babies.

As well as finding an alternative occupier for the Wyeth site, the Chamber chief executive wants there to be work done to identify the skills gaps in the region, to allow staff who are facing redundancy to be ready, to get ready to apply for new jobs.

The decision by Wyeth, announced last Wednesday evening, caught many people by surprise.

In a statement, it confirmed it plans to move its operations to two of its existing factories, one in Suzhou, mainland China and the other in Konolfingen in Switzerland.

Operating as Wyeth Nutritionals Ireland, the factory in Askeaton manufactures infant formula products exclusively for export to markets in China and the wider Asian continent.

The company is blaming a drop in demand for its products in China, where there has been a sharp drop in the birth rate and a rise in locally produced products.

It said it does not reflect on its local workforce.