Seagate: North west underinvestment 'a political failure'

It is believed 116 people staff at the site in County Londonderry will be affected

Political failure is to blame for a lack of economic investment in the north west, Foyle MP Colum Eastwood has said.

His comments come as it was announced more than 100 staff at Seagate in Londonderry are to be made redundant.

The move is part of a global restructuring operation by the company affecting 116 people out of a total workforce of about 1,600.

"We've had decades of underinvestment in this city," Mr Eastwood said.

The SDLP leader said the reason the impact of these job losses is so badly felt is because Seagate is one of the region's few major employers.

"I've watched successive Stormont executives tell us they want to invest outside of Belfast," he continued. "That just hasn't happened.

"Seagate, in the round, is a success story for Derry, but there are just far too few of those.

"We need to create jobs outside of the greater Belfast area because places like Derry have been left behind."

A spokeswoman for Seagate said a reduction of its global workforce was part of a restructuring programme to reduce costs in response to economic and business challenges.

"Our goal is to take these next steps in a thoughtful manner and work collectively with employees," they continued.

"Seagate has over 30 years of investment and partnership in Northern Ireland and the team continues to play a significant role as we invest in mass capacity data solutions driving our future growth". 

Invest NI, which has provided millions in grant aid to Seagate in Northern Ireland, said it will remain in close contact with the company to mitigate the impact and ensure the future sustainability of the Springtown site.

Colum Eastwood says those with executive power need to be held accountable for a lack of investment in the north-west

Opened in 1993, the factory produces a tiny specialised part for hard drives called a recording head.

The data storage company is one of the north west's biggest employers.

Speaking to The North West Today, Mr Eastwood said there needed to be greater investment in local people and infrastructure moving forward.

"We haven't been doing that and to pretend otherwise would be a lie," he said.

Mr Eastwood rejected that investment for the region is the sole responsibility of a local MP and said the blame lies with those with executive power in Stormont and the UK government.

"They need to be held responsible, I will continue to do that but we need an executive back up and running to do this," he said.

He said the announcement by Seagate is incredibly disappointing for the local economy and said there should be a determination keep people working at the site and ensure its long-term future.

'A major blow'

"We will fight tooth and nail to protect every job that we can on that site," Unite's regional officer Brenda Stevenson said.

"One job loss in the north west is a massive blow where we have a really poor economic climate."

Ms Stevenson said there is a feeling of "anger and disappointment" among staff at the site bout how these redundancies were handled by the company.

"They feel very let down by management," she said.

"Some of these workers had been there since the day Seagate first invested here in the north west and now they feel very let down."