Digital Daily » Limerick

Pink Slips at Big Blue?

John Paczkowski — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:45:25 +0000

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There Once Was a Man Named Dell, Who Told 1,900 Workers “Go to Hell," Redux

John Paczkowski — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:45:49 +0000

Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” is looking more and more like Bloom County’s Bill the Cat these days and Dell’s decision to shutter its plant in the Irish city of Limerick certainly won’t improve matters. According to report by Forfas, the country’s policy advisory body for enterprise and science, the closure will cost the region almost 9,500 jobs–nearly four times the 2,510 that will be lost by the closure itself. Some 6,600 positions are likely to be lost at companies supplying goods and services to Dell (DELL), the report said. “[It] is a realistic figure, unfortunately,” said Labour Deputy Jan O’Sullivan. “That has been the ball-park figure that has been predicted for some time. We are all aware that two to three companies are directly dependent on Dell.”

A devastating blow to Ireland and one that’s expected to take as much as $158 million out of the local economy.

Palm–Without Me

John Paczkowski — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:32:02 +0000

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There Once Was a Man Named Dell, Who Told 1,900 Workers "Go To Hell"…

John Paczkowski — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:37:16 +0000

Dell is Ireland’s biggest exporter and its second largest corporate employer.

But perhaps not for much longer. This morning, the company said it plans to sack 1,900 workers at its flagship manufacturing plant in Limerick, Ireland, and transfer production to an existing facility in Lodz, Poland. “We are proud of our 18-year tenure as a major manufacturer in Ireland,” said Sean Corkery, Dell vice-president of operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This is a difficult decision, but the right one for Dell to become even more competitive, and deliver greater value to customers in the region.”

The right decision for Dell (DELL), perhaps, but the wrong one for Ireland. In recent years, Dell has accounted for approximately five percent of the country’s GDP. And according to economists, each Dell job underpins another four to five jobs in Ireland. A devastating blow for a country that’s seen its economic fortunes transformed by the IT industry over the last decade.

As one worker at Dell’s Limerick plant said, “Lads, it’s a jobs massacre.”