Meeting to be held for Sensata workers amid job loss fears

By Q Radio News

A meeting will be held later for people who's jobs are at risk in Carrickfergus.

Last month - technology firm Sensata announced it was cutting 125 positions at Schrader {SHRAY - DUH}.

Staff will be meeting local groups for support and training going forward.

Organiser, Jonathan Cooke from the Progressive Unionist Party is hopeful it'll give workers the best chance of moving onto future work.

Responding on behalf of Unite the union, which represents a significant number of those whose jobs are under threat, Regional Officer Joanne McWilliams said:

“As a result of this devastating redundancy notice, once again hundreds of workers and their families face uncertainty over their livelihoods.

This is the latest cruel job loss announcement for our manufacturing sector and the latest major blow to the East Antrim area. Sensata Technologies, formerly Schrader International, was one of the employers in the area which had demonstrated significant growth in recent years against a trend of significant job losses and closures, so this is particularly bad news for the local economy.

“Management have told the workforce that the proposed 125 job losses are a result of a delay in anticipated demand for Sensata’s new Tyre Pressure Monitoring System.

It may be hoped that these job-losses may be reversed when sales of this cutting-edge product picks up again in the future but questions remain over the way management have rolled out their marketing and sales effort.

“These job-losses once again call into question the absence of a manufacturing strategy for Northern Ireland, the laggard nature of government support and intervention in the economy and the absence of a functioning locally-accountable Executive to respond adequately to what amounts to a jobs crisis in the manufacturing sector, in particular that in the Antrim area.

“Unite will be proactive in seeking to defend the interests of our members in this situation.

We don’t accept management’s explanation for these redundancies and we will want to see much more justification for what amounts to a huge reduction in the workforce.

Our union has considerable resources which we will bring to bear to secure the best possible outcome for our members”, Ms McWilliams said.