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Updated at 13.25pm
THE FEARS OF Irish workers at Coty have been confirmed, as the beauty product manufacturer announced the closure of its Tipperary plant today, affecting some 200 workers.
“As a result of this study we are proposing to consolidate our cosmetics operations into two core centres which will result in the closure of the Nenagh plant.
Specific timelines are still under consideration and subject to consultation, but we propose to complete the Nenagh volume transition by the end of calendar year 2018.
Staff at the plant, which produces Max Factor beauty products, were called to a meeting at midday today at which the announcement was made.
“The executive has taken every measure to stave off job losses. However, we’ve been told to hope for the best but to expect the worst,” Sinn Féin’s Seamus Morris told Fora.
“It’s a huge body blow to everyone in the town because a couple of years ago staff were told the plant was moving to Poland, but they worked hard to stave off that move through talks with the company.”
In a released statement, the company said it commenced a review of global manufacturing capacities last October and will deliver those findings to employees in Nenagh today.
The spokesperson said this study will “define the best manufacturing footprint to deliver our future growth and is still “subject to board approval”.
Commenting on the announcement, Juan Miguel Pacheco, plant manager at Nenagh said they would work closely with workers and their families throughout the consultation and “to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect”.
Foreign investment
The plant is based on the old site of the Procter & Gamble manufacturing facility, and has been in operation since 1978. It was acquired by Coty last October as part of a $12.9 billion merger deal.
It is expected that Coty, which also produces other fragrances and skincare products for Rimmel and Calvin Klein, will move the operations of the Irish plant to a similar facility in the UK.
Morris said that the announcement is a bit of a surprise because the feeling was the Brexit vote would sway the company to keep it Irish plant and close its operation in Kent.
He added that the county council has requested a meeting with Minister for Jobs Mary Mitchell O’Connor to talk about the issue.
“This Coty plant is the last foreign direct investment of its size in Nenagh. FDI just hasn’t been flowing into the area,” he said.
Morris added that the area is “very fortunate” that payments processor First Data is opening a new European research and development centre in the area. That move is expected to generate up to 300 jobs for the area.
With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
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So sad that we’re letting this happen over and over. In the future, people will look back and wonder why we stood by, idly as attack after attack claimed more lives.
@Barry Doyle: who is standing idly by?
@Barry Doyle: yeah, we need to ban people
@Barry Doyle: all people. Either that or all gatherings.
@Barry Doyle: people will look back and wonder why cowards hide behind fake accounts to talk racist bs
@Barry Doyle: Happened in Germany Bar
@Jim Buckley Barrett: I don’t know how you can accuse me of being racist. I never mentioned race and the article doesn’t mention the race of the shooter nor the victims.
I wonder does German News media run articles on every killing in Ireland? Perhaps they do only when undertones of terrorist attacks can be implied.
@Nostredamus Rebooted: they probably would report it if it was as newsworthy as a multiple victim shooting at a mass gathering in a culturally related country like this was.
@Nostredamus Rebooted: So, there should be no reporting of killings in case it offends people because the shooter may or may not have a different pigment of skin?
@Nostredamus Rebooted: Yeah my mate is living in Berlin. The chopping up of Mulready was all over the news over there
@Kevin O’ Brien: True that Kevin. But the rush to publish click bait stories before any attempt to foundate facts about the event, can be irresponsible, particularly when some in society are content to draw misinformed conclusions from skeletal reporting.
@Nostredamus Rebooted: how dare they report the news.
@Ross McDermott: Good point! But so many posters here only wake up and start spitting when it’s not our own home grown making the news. They seem to miss what our own are doing to each other all over the country and never bother to post.
@Nostredamus Rebooted: all the European papers ran the Regency Story.
@Barry Doyle. What would you like unarmed people to do exactly?
@Barney’s sister: I wouldn’t expect them to do anything. It’s not the duty of the citizenry to defend themselves; it’s the preeminent responsibility of the state.
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