33 Jobs to Be Lost In Waterford

33 jobs are to be lost at one of Waterford longest manufacturing industries.

Staff at Waterford Stanley learned of the job losses this morning at a meeting which all workers at the plant were called to attend.

There is currently 57 people working at the factory on the IDA Industrial Estate and it is to be cut to 24 over the next five months.

Middleby Corporation which owns Waterford Stanley who makes cast iron heating stoves and cookers is to begin outsource the work needed to make the products.

The company says that it intends to continue to operate its sales, distribution, marketing and after sales service in Waterford.

The company is also set to close its Coalbrookdale Foundry in the UK which supplies cast iron to the Waterford plant.  

Management are to enter a formal 30 day consultation period with employees and their representatives to finalise the details of the job losses.

Business is to continue to operate as normal over the coming months while changes are implemented.  

18 months ago, management told employees at the Waterford plant that they were looking for 41 redundancies over the following months.

At the time there was about 100 people working in manufacturing and distribution working for the company.

Staff were informed at the time that the job losses were a cost cutting measure and all losses would be voluntary.

News of the job losses was announced to the public by Fianna Fail TD for Waterford Mary Butler this morning on the Déise Today programme on WLR.fm.

Mary Butler who is the Chairperson of the Oireachtas Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Committee as described the news of the job losses as a very sad day for Waterford.

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that unemployment in Waterford is the highest in the country at 9.4%