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More than 900 computer jobs to go More than 900 computer jobs to go
(about 4 hours later)
More than 900 jobs are to be lost in County Londonderry with the closure of the Seagate plant which makes components for hard disc drives.More than 900 jobs are to be lost in County Londonderry with the closure of the Seagate plant which makes components for hard disc drives.
Staff were given the news at a meeting in the company's Limavady plant on Monday. Staff were given the news at a meeting in the Limavady plant on Monday.
Seagate, which has received £12m from Invest Northern Ireland and its predecessor IDB since 2001, will close in the second half of next year.Seagate, which has received £12m from Invest Northern Ireland and its predecessor IDB since 2001, will close in the second half of next year.
Plant manager William O'Kane said the news was sad but inevitable. "This is no way due to the employees," he said.
"We have a fantastically skilled and fantastically motivated and fantastically inventive workforce which would be an asset to any future employers.
"However, even with those assets and the improvements we have made in productivity and technology, we have had to bow to the inevitable cost pressures that exist in the Far East."
The American company has had a base in Limavady for the last decade.The American company has had a base in Limavady for the last decade.
The MP for the area, Gregory Campbell, said the plant's closure would have a dramatic impact on the region. However, it has a plant in Malaysia which is due to start operations in the new year.
"This is the largest employer, not just in Limavady, but virtually the entire north west of Northern Ireland," the DUP man said. It will make the computer components currently being made in Limavady.
"It's a manufacturing base which we're sadly losing throughout Northern Ireland, so it's going to have a dramatic impact." Wage costs
Great shock Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Nigel Dodds said the closure was hugely disappointing for the workforce, the north west and the wider economy.
The town's former mayor, Jack Rankin of the UUP, said he feared the entire workforce could go. "(It) is a direct result of significantly lower wage costs in Asian competitors, foreign exchange and shipping costs which have created a competitive cost gap of some £15m per year," he said.
"It will have a very big effect on the people of Limavady who work out there - people who have got young families and have mortgages. He said he was glad Seagate's wafer fabrication facility in Londonderry would not be affected by the announcement.
"This certainly has come as a great shock to me. I hope it's only a rumour but I have my doubts." The minister said senior officials from Invest NI were working with the company and the Department of Employment and Learning on a joint approach to retrain and reskill the affected staff.
The company makes components for hard disc drives "I have also asked senior officials in Invest NI to be available to discuss the options for attracting future potential investment in the area with local representatives."
SDLP assembly member John Dallat warned it would be the latest in a series of cuts. Mr Dodds added: "This situation clearly illustrates the need for Northern Ireland business to be competitive and to concentrate on higher added value products and services."
"It is a disaster for the workers," he said.
"We have had a series of job losses in this area and this is very bad news for the local community."
Sinn Fein's Francie Brolly accused Seagate and other global companies of behaving like "travelling circuses".
"They go to Limavady while they have the conditions that they require," Mr Brolly said.
"When they discover that somewhere in the world they can make more money, because labour costs are cheaper or whatever, they go there."