Covidien news is 'not a doomsday situation' - SIPTU

The announcement by Covidien last week that it plans to move one its production lines from its facility in Athlone to Thailand is not a doomsday situation, according to SIPTU representative Frank Jones. Last Wednesday Covidien announced that it plans to move its basic endo-tracheal tube manufacturing from Athlone to another existing Covidien facility in Thailand, with the move happening over a two-year period. The company also announced that it is assessing employee interest in a voluntary separation programme/early retirement. The company said this week it is also working on bringing in additional investment and products to the Athlone facility and hopes to be in a position to make an announcement regarding these before the end of this year. This week Mr Jones told the Westmeath Independent that the union represents over 500 of the 600 workers are the plant and said: "I'm fairly confident the numbers won't be too high and all will be voluntary. It's not a doomsday situation." He said the first wave of redundancies are expected to take place between July and September next year with more planned for December 2013. Mr Jones said the company had always been loyal to its workforce in Athlone and he credited Covidien with giving the workers and the union a generous timescale for negotiations. "This is not a Talk Talk situation. The workers have been well warned in advance," he said. "It gives us loads of time for negotiations. It also gives the company the opportunity to attract in new business." Mr Jones explained that Covidien was attempting to attract in new business for the facility in Athlone and as a result a final number on the amount of voluntary redundancies to be sought is not yet available. He added, however, that the new business will not be as labour intensive and so there would be some job losses. He said that there is a fantastic research and development section at the Athlone plant, with some products being wholly researched in Athlone. Mr Jones said packages had not yet been discussed, but said he hoped to have everything in place by early next year to give those who are taking redundancy time to make plans and said the union would be meeting management in three weeks time. Making the announcement last Wednesday, Covidien stated: "As a facility with a strong manufacturing operations track record and a vital R&D function, Athlone will continue to be an important part of Covidien. We have an experienced, capable, long-serving workforce, and our site has a strong health and safety and regulatory record. Covidien remains committed to maintaining a significant presence in Athlone and Ireland." The company added: "Covidien operates within a highly competitive global health care environment. Our focus every day is to provide our customers with the highest quality products at the best prices. In order to do that, we continually evaluate our business and operations, looking for ways to enhance our performance and efficiency." Vice President of Communications Respiratory & Monitoring Solutions at Covidien Rhonda Luniak told the Westmeath Independent that the company does not know how many redundancies/early retirements it will be looking for. She said Covidien had only just started discussions with employees and their representatives and said Covidien was working on bringing in additional products and investments to its Athlone plant.