Unemployment in Northern Ireland has jumped by 6,000, latest government figures revealed today.
The total for the three months September to November stood at 35,000 - up from 29,000 in the previous quarter and 1,000 up on the same time a year before.

Redundancies at technology firm


Forty jobs are to go at the factory in Portadown
Seagoe Technologies has announced that 40 jobs are to go at its factory in Portadown, County Armagh.
The company, which produces storage heaters, employs between 320 and 350 people. Union spokesman Sean McKeever said staff were very worried.

"The mood is downbeat, all employees are concerned," he said.

"The company has put out for voluntary redundancies, but there is a real danger that if that can't be met there will be enforced redundancies."

Redundancies at technology firm


Forty jobs are to go at the factory in Portadown
Seagoe Technologies has announced that 40 jobs are to go at its factory in Portadown, County Armagh.
The company, which produces storage heaters, employs between 320 and 350 people. Union spokesman Sean McKeever said staff were very worried.

"The mood is downbeat, all employees are concerned," he said.

"The company has put out for voluntary redundancies, but there is a real danger that if that can't be met there will be enforced redundancies."

NI tops council sick leave charts
Sick leave among Northern Ireland's 9,300 council staff costs ratepayers more than £15m a year, the Audit Office has found.
It said in a report that local councils' 14-day a year average is the highest in the UK.
Larne Borough Council topped the table, with an average of 20 days lost - a third of them stress-related.
Magherafelt had the lowest level of absenteeism, with seven days taken per member of staff a year.
Council chairman Paul McLean said it had taken radical action.
"We have a policy in place that, irrespective of a doctor's line, people are referred to the occupational health department along with their line manager," he said.
It and Fermanagh were the only two councils that managed to stay below the UK average.
While some councils have managed to reduce absenteeism, others like Coleraine have seen the rate climb to more than three weeks a year.
Stress, depression, fatigue and mental health issues accounted for 20% of time taken off, the Audit Office found.
It said stress-related absences cost councils £3.1m last year, but only eight councils had implemented a stress or mental health policy.

Breast implant factory goes tits up!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7217704.stm

detail:



Local Councillor, Ivor Fetash said 'I personally don't think their management team has a firm grip of the business, surely they should hold their assets closer to the european front. With these things in front of us now, you can expect others to soon topple over or see a reduction at a later date. This front-end loading strategy is soon to become a thing of the past anyway, the market is far too weighed down'

detail:

US pharmaceutical company Allergan will phase out work at its factory in Arklow, south of Dublin, over two years and transfer operations to Costa Rica.

General manager of the Allergan plant Paul Moody paid tribute to the workers and thanked them for their dedication.

Ciaran Connolly of trade union SIPTU said labour and other costs were lower in central America than in Ireland.

In a statement, Allergan said: "For economic and operational reasons, Allergan will consolidate the manufacturing of its breast implant products to the company's state-of-the-art facility in Costa Rica."

Local Councillor, Ivor Fetash said 'I personally don't think their management team has a firm grip of the business, surely they should hold their assets closer to the european front. With these things in front of us now, you can expect others to soon topple over or see a reduction at a later date. This front-end loading strategy is soon to become a thing of the past anyway, the market is far too weighed down'

Citibank planning ~300 jobs in Belfast by end of '09 - there's a recruitment freeze at the moment apparently, but that's the medium-term plan. We're cheaper than London after all...

I was told in the main thread that citigroup belfast was bulletproof. Frankly I do not believe that. Yes, we may be cheaper but in times of trouble, an organisation will consolidate to strengthen its core at the expense of the perimeter. Belfast will be a perimeter location and I would envisage that we would see job losses pretty early on in a widespread culling.

For interest sake, has anyone noticed that the citigroup logo has been removed from their building....

For interest sake, has anyone noticed that the citigroup logo has been removed from their building....

'citigroup' is rebranding globally as 'citi', the umbrella is going and being replaced by an arc.

No conspiracy theory required on that one.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7234196.stm

100 new call centre jobs - probably earning 50k

Jobs bonanza in Larne - should put a few shops out of business though
http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=87478&pt=n