Christmas joy for workers as 200 jobs escape axe

By Dara Bradley

The workforce at a city-based biomedical multinational company received an early Christmas present of job security as the axe hanging over the future of their jobs was removed – for the medium term at least.

Employees of Beckman Coulter have been given a welcome ‘stay of execution’ this Christmas week – management have confirmed that the facility is ‘here to stay’ and will remain operating for the next three to five years at least.

The company, which employs just shy of 200 workers in Galway, has been based in Mervue since 1972 and – following a review of the US company’s Irish operations – it was confirmed to staff that it would remain in the city for up to a further five years.

It is estimated that just 30 workers are to be made redundant between the Mervue operation and the company’s base in Lismeahan, County Clare, where a further 200 are employed.

The redundancies are far fewer than had been feared initially – there was widespread speculation that either Galway or Clare would be shut down altogether following the review or that they would be merged; both scenarios would have resulted in large losses of jobs.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.