Zeus staff in Letterkenny facing temporary lay-offs within weeks

by Louise Doyle

CONCERNS have emerged that staff at one of Letterkenny’s biggest employers are to be placed on temporary lay-off within weeks.

More than 200 production staff at Zeus, based in the IDA Park in Lisnenan, have been told that they will be put on temporary lay-off, without pay, on the first week in July and the first week in August.

The move is prompting fears of further lay-offs and even job cuts.

One employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Donegal News the development has come as a “massive blow” to staff, which comes while people are grappling with a cost of living crisis with many households already struggling to meet financial demands.

“Zeus Industrial Products has around 300 employees and are to temporarily lay-off all production staff, which is over 200 people, in the first week in July and the first week in August due to a downturn in orders with no pay.

“It’s a massive blow to staff involved, coming at a time with a cost of living crisis and staff struggling to pay bills.”

The person added that many employees are actually couples who will have no income at all for those temporary lay-off periods.

“They (management) have not ruled out more lay-offs later on in the year and permanent lay-offs weren’t ruled out either,” said the employee.

Earlier this year, the EQT Private Equity firm acquired Zeus and staff felt secure about their future.

The development comes just months after a major recruitment event was held in Clanree Hotel.

Zeus is described as the world’s leading polymer extrusion manufacturer and material science innovator.

A spokesperson confirmed that “a temporary manufacturing shutdown is being implemented at our Letterkenny facility during the first week in July and the first week in August, to directly respond to short-term softness in customer demand and avoid future layoffs”.

The spokesperson for the company confirmed that ‘a temporary manufacturing shutdown is being implemented’ at the Letterkenny facility during the first weeks of July and August.

They added that while the company saw “an unprecedented surge” in customer demand in April 2020, that same heightened demand is not now being experienced.

“As the healthcare industry stabilises, we observe a corresponding normalization in the demand for medical device components,” the spokesperson said.

“Consequently, Zeus is no longer experiencing the heightened order urgency seen during the peak of the pandemic and the subsequent period.”

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