Buy Online: Element Six Announces Shannon Management Plan to retain more than 240 jobs
Element Six today announced agreement to pursue a bold plan to secure the long-term sustainability of operations in Shannon and retain more than 240 jobs. The leadership of Element Six met with senior Shannon management in London for intense talks over the past two days to thoroughly assess a plan to restructure the Shannon operations for long-term competitiveness. Element Six has given the resulting Shannon Sustainability Plan their full backing, assuming it is implemented quickly and in full. This Plan is an alternative to winding down operations announced on 22nd July.
The Company has today advised all Shannon based staff of the Sustainability Plan and improved redundancy terms for those affected by the restructuring. The consultation process with employees has re-commenced and local management have requested the full co-operation of all employees and their commitment to normal working while this process is completed quickly.
Ken Sullivan, General Manager Shannon, announcing the decision, said, “We have won support from the Company to build a renewed, sustainable operation in Shannon focused on the highest value elements of manufacturing and customer service. My management team has worked extremely hard over the last week to deliver a detailed plan. While the Sustainability Plan was meticulously challenged, we were heartened by the receptiveness and engagement of the Element Six executive team, and are delighted with the outcome. The Plan requires a comprehensive overhaul of our work practices and a strong productivity drive, but I am confident of success. Importantly, Government have committed additional support in the form of training grants and temporary wage subsidies to support the Plan for which we are extremely grateful. I would also like to thank Shannon Development for their active support in this process. We hope all parties can work closely together to agree and implement the Plan quickly over the next few weeks to avoid the wind-down scenario.”
Cyrus Jilla, CEO of Element Six said, “Since the extremely regrettable decision to wind down operations, we’ve had highly constructive discussions with the local management team and I’m delighted this has led to development of a truly sustainable plan for Shannon retaining more than 240 jobs. We recognise the excellent capabilities we have in Shannon, but economic realities meant we could only retain operations if they could be competitive for the long-term and not continually restructured. This Plan achieves that goal. In addition, given the moving costs avoided under the Sustainability Plan, we have increased the fund for affected workers to €8M but still meeting our strict affordability limits. This trebles the ex-gratia package per employee and provides a total redundancy payment of in excess of 4½ weeks per year of service. I thank the Shannon management team for all their hard work and I look forward to working with them to secure quick support for this Plan.”