News

According to the article in the Irish Times, Eircom has told its trade unions that it wants to cut 1,250 jobs over the next 18 months as part of a series of measures aimed at achieving savings. The company has told the unions that it will implement compulsory redundancies if staff do not accept a voluntary severance package in sufficient numbers.

Discussions between management and unions are believed to have been under way for about six weeks. Steve Fitzpatrick, general secretary of the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), acknowledged that the unions were in talks with Eircom on a major restructuring of the business. “What we are attempting to do with the company at the moment is work through a financial restructuring plan to assist it through its current difficulties,” Mr Fitzpatrick said. “That has been ongoing for a number of weeks and we haven’t concluded it yet. Substantially, a lot of things have been agreed but there are still some outstanding issues.”



There are 7,500 employees in the company now. About 60 per cent of the 1,250 proposed job cuts would be from the permanent staff.