Swords based Socialist Party Councillor Clare Daly has condemned the closure of Celestica as a " brutal betrayal of the workforce and the community in North Dublin."
Councillor Daly said, " With an immediate threat hanging over my own job and those of my colleagues in Aer Lingus Catering, I stand in total solidarity with the workforce of Celestica faced with redundancy in the coming months.
Statements from Mary Harney claiming the job losses will be offset by new employment only add insult to injury. Small comfort to those who lost their jobs today! This is not an accounting exercise, this is about the real lives and welfare of real people, and the consequences are devastating."
"Unfortunately, the other side of the tragedy is that this situation was not all that unexpected and is becoming increasingly common in north Dublin and throughout the country. Over 2 years ago when Motorola announced job losses of
750, a couple of weeks before Christmas, we warned that this was going to be the music of the future. It is the inevitable consequence of an economy that is over-reliant on the multi-national sector - a policy promoted and encouraged by this right-wing Fianna Fail & PD government."
Councillor Daly also stated, "it is somewhat ironic that the announcement was made on May Day, international workers day. The origins of May Day lie in the struggle of workers for an 8-hour day, a struggle against the employers and governments who sought to maintain super-exploitation in order to boost their profits. Now we have the modern day version, with multi-national firms pulling out at a whim in order to seek greater profits elsewhere through downsizing and re-location to cheap wage economies."
"Crocodile tears from local government TDs ring somewhat hollow, when these people are paving the way for the loss of hundreds more jobs in the area with the imminent privatisation of Aer Lingus. If they were seriously concerned, they would be meeting with representatives of the workforce to examine the possibility of investing to save the jobs. These premises house important machinery and a trained workforce. With constant innovation in the wireless hand held device market, particularly with the development of third generation mobile phones, there is no reason why with some modification the plant could not remain in operation as a viable concern. This is the least the community deserves."
MORE INFORMATION: CLARE DALY 8408059/087-2415576
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