Type
Closure
Country
Ireland
Region
Southern and Eastern; Mid-West;
Location of affected unit(s)
Limerick
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture For Transport Equipment
Manufacture Of Motor Vehicles, Trailers And Semi-Trailers
29.3 - Manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles

163 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
12 November 2007
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date
31 December 2007

Description

Atlas Aluminium, a firm that manufactures aluminium products, has announced it is to close its site in Limerick with the loss of 163 jobs. The Limerick site produces car parts for the assembly lines of the car manufacturers Nissan and Renault, and the plant will be closed by the end of 2007. Two weeks prior to the announcement of the closure on 12th November 2007, employees at the plant had staged a strike. The workers claimed that they were owed a total of 250,000 EUR in back pay and also alleged that foreign workers at the plant, many of whom came from Poland, were being treated unfairly.

Management at the firm have repeatedly denied these accusations. In a statement, the firm has said that it has been unable to pay the most recent Irish national wage agreement, and that an independent assessor appointed by the Labour Court upheld this. In a statement, the company, which has operated in Limerick since 1980, said that it regretted having to close and attributed the closure to the loss of contracts with key customers.


Sources

  • 13 November 2007: The Irish Examiner
  • 13 November 2007: The Irish Times

Citation

Eurofound (2007), Atlas Aluminium, Closure in Ireland, factsheet number 66008, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66008.