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An employee of Glen Electric has said that 45-50% of the Glen Electric workforce are to be made redundant in Newry and that one of their sites at Greenbank Industrial Estate is being closed.
Glen Electric was established in Newry in 1973 and owners the Glen Dimplex group has since become a massive world wide player in heating and ventilation, precision cooling and flame and consumer appliances.
Newry.ie contacted Glen Electric/ Glen Dimplex in Newry to check about the allegations but they wouldn't comment. We also contacted Glen Dimplex Ireland headquarters and they never got back to us.
The employee said "Newry employees facilitated the move of production operations to China and Lithuania in good faith with new products and investment promised to Newry" but they now feel they have been shafted "as it now seems to be the aim of the company to systematically downsize and eventually move all its business out of Ireland and its UK based manufacturing sites.”
They added "No loyalty shown to the long term employees in Newry who have helped build the Glen Dimplex brand and make it into the huge success it is today”
They say they understand that one of the Glen Dimplex Greenbank sites is to close and "many at the Newry sites now fear for their job security as they see it as the beginning of the end."
Catastrophic
Speaking of the alleged redundancies Newry and Armagh MP Dáire Hughes urged the Glen Electric management to change course describing the proposed redundancies as "devastating news" for local workers and their families. He believes there are plans for 51 people to be made redundant.
The Newry and Armagh MP said working families are already struggling and the threat of redundancy is catastrophic. "These job losses would be a major blow for Newry. Local staff have worked hard at the Newry site for decades and deserve much better than this," he said.
Glen Electric was established in Newry in 1973 and has grown into a major and profitable international company, thanks to the efforts of its workers. Hughes said local staff worked to facilitate the transfer of products to eastern Europe on the basis that new investment in renewable energy products would follow, but this did not happen.
"The company is profitable and the Newry site is viable. Every effort must be made to avoid redundancies," the MP added, calling on management to change course to avoid the devastating job losses.
Urgent Intervention Needed
People Before Profit's Newry & Armagh Representative Marc Mac Seáin condemned the move, calling on the Executive and local council to intervene urgently to protect workers’ jobs: "It is deeply worrying that a local company plans to axe a huge proportion of its workforce, leaving workers out of a job. Glen Electric reported a pre-tax profit of £126.5m in 2024 so this decision is clearly not one which they are being forced to make from a position of financial precarity. Shamefully, this comes on the heels of previous promises to invest in the decades-old Newry site, leaving workers totally blindsided by the about-turn. When we approached Glen Electric for comment they made no statement."
“We are calling for urgent intervention from the Stormont Executive and the local council to defend workers at this site by staving off job losses. If the intention is to move these jobs elsewhere for cheaper labour costs then this must be challenged.
“We offer our full support to the workers and to their union in whatever action they pursue to mitigate the loss of jobs in Newry. We understand SIPTU in consultation to secure employment for their members.”
