Caterpillar: US firm plans 83 redundancies at Larne site

Caterpillar has facilities in Larne and Belfast

The engineering firm Caterpillar is planning to make 83 redundancies at its factory in Larne, County Antrim - about 15% of the workforce.

The move does not involve employees at its other NI facility in Belfast.

The company said the planned job losses reflected reduced demand for some of the products manufactured in Larne.

Meanwhile, the coffee and pastry business Patisserie Valerie, has confirmed its three branches in Belfast are to close.

Caterpillar said that it will try to identify redeployment opportunities and would offer severance packages to employees who leave.

The US multinational designs and makes large industrial generators in Larne as well as smaller generators produced under the FG Wilson brand.

The company says it is seeing "decreased demand for the UK-made offerings" of these smaller generator sets and is planning to stop making this product in Larne.

Axles and transmissions

Caterpillar has been steadily reducing its Northern Ireland workforce for more than a decade.

In 2010 it employed almost 3,000 people but if all the latest planned redundancies happen it will be just over 800.

The firm currently has about 550 employees in Larne and 350 at Springvale in Belfast.

The Springvale plant produces component subassemblies including axles and transmissions for articulated trucks as well as other oil and gas applications

Earlier this year there was a lengthy strike at the firm's Northern Ireland operations.

It ended after the company bypassed a trade union and made a direct "take it or leave it" offer to staff.

A company spokesperson said the redundancies were not linked to that strike action and were also not related to Brexit.

'Deeply disappointed'

DUP East Antrim MP, Sammy Wilson, said he was thinking of "those who are facing the uncertainty of changing jobs after years of service".

"In recent months manufacturers across East Antrim have been speaking of the labour shortages, therefore I am hopeful that many of these skilled workers will be able to find alternative employment," he said.

"I want to work with the local agencies to help in any way with facilitating people to transition and find new roles."

The business say they have not recovered "as well as expected" following the pandemic

Also on Thursday, Patisserie Valerie said that stores at Donegall Square and Castle Lane in Belfast city centre and the Forestside shopping centre would close.

The business is closing six further branches in Scotland and England saying they have not recovered "as well as expected" following the pandemic.

"We have decided to close nine patisseries as we now do not feel they will recover sufficiently amid further cost pressures," the company added.

Chief executive James Fleming said: "Whilst closing stores is never an easy decision to take, we are confident this is the right thing to do to ensure the group is in a stronger position to continue investing and delivering the high quality experience our customers rightly expect in these challenging times."

Patisserie Valerie has been owned by Irish investment firm Causeway Capital since 2019.

It bought the business out of administration for a reported £5m after it collapsed in the aftermath of an accounting scandal.