Irish Workers Pay The Price For Pro-Business Agenda
The news that nearly 1,000 workers at the Seagate plant in Limavady, County Derry are to lose their jobs in an act of social vandalism by the company has been greeted with dismay by those dependent on the firm for a living.
The plant, which builds component parts for computers has decided to pull out of Ireland, creating one of the single greatest job layoffs in many years. Seagate in Limavady has received over £30 million (43 million euro) from taxpayers through the investment body Invest NI and its predecessor IDB since 2001.
That’s an average of £5 million (7 million euro) a year from the Irish people’s purse to woo the firm to do business here. Seagate was one of the first financial initiatives of its kind to be driven by the Six County assembly, and was aimed at encouraging ‘inward investment’ from foreign multinationals to create a ‘stronger economy’ in the Six Counties.
The arbitrary pull-out follows the global trend of multinational corporations generating employment only when it is gratuitously profitable, inspired by tax breaks and when a low paid workforce exists. Since Malaysia now offers a more profitable environment and an ample low paid workforce to exploit, the North American company has chosen to lay off the 9,000 long-term employees, despite the massive amount of Irish money that the Six County assembly has invested in the firm.
Speaking about the decision, Six County economy minister Nigel Dodds expressed ‘regret’, which may not be enough for the soon to be unemployed workers.
"I have been assured that this decision is not a reflection of the performance of the Limavady plant or its workforce, but is a direct result of significantly lower wage costs in Asian competitors, foreign exchange and shipping costs, which have created a competitive cost gap of some £15 million (22 million euro) per year.
Dodds went on: "This situation clearly illustrates the need for Northern Ireland (sic) business to be competitive and to concentrate on higher added value products and services."
This ethos of placating short-term, greedy investors and seducing them with the public purse is rife within the Blairite government in Britain and, as a result, permeates through every aspect of the Six County economy, dominated as it is by England.
The recent budget report by finance minister Peter Robinson illustrates clearly that this trend will not be tackled with long-term employment and investment proposals but will, in fact, be exacerbated by the offer of get-rich-quick deals to foreign investment firms who will leave Irish workers high and dry at the first opportunity of paying less wages to poorer people.
A further cynical move on the part of Seagate was the redundancy package, which will only give employees their full financial entitlement if they are loyal to the company until it alights from Irish shores.
Essentially, this means that Seagate expects its employees to stay and close the gate as they leave in order to receive compensation for the loss of employment.
This will obviously place strain on employees and their families all over the north-west, as they either scramble for employment in the wake of the closure or cut their losses in terms of redundancy and look for work now.
Six County employment minister Reg Empey has given little hope to the Seagate workers that the plant will deliver on its obligations and provide a meaningful return for the £30 million sweetener it received to do business in Ireland
"I am making arrangements for my department to provide assistance through our district and local offices and local employer contact team," he said.
This inevitably means dole ques and job searches for the long-term employees.
Éirígí spokesperson Dáithi Mac An Mháistír expressed concern for the Limavady workers and contempt for the assembly ministers and the Seagate company.
“Employees may well have to seek work in other short-term, high expense assembly privatisation initiatives and face equally cruel layoffs in years to come if the economic atmosphere in the Six Counties continues to shift towards these quick-fix, venture capitalist initiatives.
“I am particularly worried about the future of employees in Seagate's wafer fabrication facility in Springtown, Derry, given that the company has shown a callous disregard for employees in this instance, particularly with the cruel ‘catch 22’ clause attached to the redundancy package.”
He continued, “Will the Six County assembly and its ministers be able to stand over layoffs there, especially since over £70 million (100 million euro) has been invested in Seagate, Springtown this year alone under the current regime.
“Time and again Irish workers are at the harsh end of rich men’s investment initiatives. This is only one example in a growing global epidemic of multinational firms swooping in whilst there are ‘friendly governments’ in place and out again once they have found easier prey to capitalise on.
“One could be forgiven for mistaking the so called ‘economic initiatives’ of the Stormont assembly for get-rich-quick schemes for the already rich. It could not be more apt that at the same time as this body was setting out its pro-business stall, the consequences of this agenda were impacting in a very real and negative way on the lives of Derry workers.
“The words of James Connolly are highly appropriate in this instance,
‘She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs.’”