THERE was more bad news on the jobs front for Tullamore this week with the announcement that Sennheiser has let 14 full time staff go.
In a statement the company said "the transition to a high value-add production model, coupled with changing market trends, has led to an over capacity for manual headphone production."
It said this has been managed, since last October, by Short ti
me working.
"Ongoing reviews of the long term outlook show no indication of an improvement in the current trend. As a result, we now must implement a reduction of 14 full-time employees. This will allow the resumption of a full time working pattern."
Previous investments have seen the Tullamore operation develop into the leading transducer production facility within the Sennheiser group. Underlining this, 2009 saw the largest single investment to date, of several million Euro in the latest high-tech automated production equipment, together with the recruitment of additional multi-skilled technicians.
Discussions with the union will commence immediately to achieve the best possible outcome.
Tullamore Town Councillor Brendan Killeavy said the focus would have to be on job creation to combat this.
"This is a devastating blow for Tullamore. It is a sign of the times. From a town council point of view we have to keep going and try and encourage more local employment. We have to keep our heads up and keep going," said Cllr Killeavy.
Meanwhile Cllr Molly Buckley said it was more bad news for the town. "We have been hit so bad locally with job losses. We have a great workforce in Tullamore and this is another blow to the local economy. Sennheiser had always been such an excellent employer."
