New Ross Chairman Assured No Job Losses On The Way For Integer

The chairman of the New Ross Municipal District says he's received assurances there will be no job losses at Integer.

Workers at the plant face uncertainty over their future following a proposed takeover by the company by KKR.

Last week, the Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy said she was assured by the Enterprise Minister Peter Burke that there would be no jobs lost at the facility.

New Ross chairman councillor John Fleming says he met with the manager of the plant two weeks ago and received the same assurances but changes are coming:

"He said if there's going to be anything, it'll be a shortage of hours so there will be less shifts or less hours but no layoffs.

"I asked him about the projections for next year and he said he can forsee growth."

Councillor Fleming says he was also assured the temporary two week shutdown this summer won't happen again.

The company is the subject of a 4.9 billion euro takeover which may to lead to downsizing in the future.

Councillor Fleming says the management faced difficulties earlier in the year but they are looking ahead to next year.

"There was an issue with what I could see is worldwide affairs and overstocking and I asked was the shutdown going to happen again and he said no.

"What may happen until the end of the year, if there's any issues instead of doing a 24 hour shift, they may reduce it to a 16 hour shift but no, there will be nothing like the two week layoff.

"He also told me that next year looks very good, very positive."

Councillor Fleming also feels New Ross needs to attract more employment to prevent from any potential job shocks in the future.

The medical devices plant employs around 1,100 people and he says it's not good for a town to be so reliant on one employer and they're working to fix that:

"I'm the chairman of the Economic SPC in Wexford County Council and I'm looking for developers to build another factory in the town for bigger and smaller units.

"Regardless of Integer or whatever else, we have to keep looking because if you stand still, that's no use, you have to keep trying to get other companies in."

There are suggestions companies like Integer are being enticed to return to the United States by Donald Trump's administration.

Councillor Fleming says he's not worried about that as Wexford companies are adaptable enough to survive any potential shocks.

"I'd be more worried of wars and economic sanctions and the stopping of shipping routes.

"The machinery in Integer in New Ross I believe, is more flexible to adapt than any of their factories so if they made different lines of products we'd say than Integer is more adaptable."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.