140 Beckman Coulter jobs go as plant shuts after forty years

Beckman Coulter is to close its Galway operation with the loss of 140 jobs, after more than forty years’ association with the city.
The job losses at the Mervue multinational, medical devices company, was confirmed yesterday; it follows a month-long review of operations by its head office in the US.
Though the announcement was expected – staff fears for the plant were reported in our sister newspaper Connacht Sentinel last month – employees are still shell-shocked.
It is a hammer blow to the staff, coming close to Christmas, and to the city as a whole, where more than 10,000 people are already on the Live Register.
The biomedical company has had roots in Mervue since 1972. Many staff have up to 20 years service with the company, and a half dozen are so were due to retire this side of Christmas.
Employees were informed of the decision at a staff meeting at the plant on Thursday morning. The company said it is scaling back production and moving product development to other locations.
Up to 80 staff are to be offered redeployment to its plant in Clare. Management is engaging with unions. The axe has hung over Beckman Coulter in Mervue for some years now. In 2009, Beckham Coulter bought the former Olympus Diagnostics plant in Clare in a merger deal worth €630 million.
In 2011, the Galway operation got a stay of execution, when following a review of operations the company decided to stay put in Mervue.
It had been feared three years ago that the Galway operation would be shut and moved to Tulla, near Ennis – this has now come to pass.
The Clare facility is owned by Beckman but the Galway building is rented. The last review included both operations but this time round it is understood that just Galway was reviewed.
The last review carried out at the company in Galway involved local management but managers at Galway were not involved in the current review.
Labour Party Galway West TD, Derek Nolan, said it was “sad news for the workers”. “This is a big blow for them, their families, for Mervue and for Galway. There is a still uncertainty as to how many people will lose their jobs, but the number will be high. It is important now that everything is done to support those who have lost their jobs.”
For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.