Cork to slash workforce by up to 90 in next 6 mos

The global healthcare company Cork is said to cut its workforce by up to 90 in the next six months, the news reports said.

The workers at Merck Sharpe Dohme were briefed by the management about the decision at its plant at Brinny near Innishannon.

The scaling back in production was not account of any fall in demand for the company’s products and also not due to any duplication of the production following the MSD takeover.

Matt Corcoran, MSD Site Manager, said, the announcement was extremely challenging news for all the staff to take in.  He also said, “We have committed substantial resources to investigate all elements of our business operations to identify potential savings, but reducing workforce was necessary and sadly unavoidable for the site to stay competitive.”

Besides, he also said, “Our immediate priority now is to work with and support all our employees during the consultation process.”  He added, “The decision was simply due to a review finding sufficient supplies of the products made at the plant-active ingredients for supply to the company’s tablet manufacturing plants-currently in the stock."

MSD employs 2,300 people in Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and Wicklow. It produces prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, consumer care and animal health products.