Concern as Zeus staff in Letterkenny face temporary lay-offs

There are fears over the future of jobs at Zeus in Letterkenny.

Production staff at Zeus in the IDA Business Park in Lisnenan, Letterkenny are to be put on temporary lay off.

Donegal Live understands that around 200 production staff have been told that they will be on temporary lay-off, without pay, on the first week in July and the first week in August.

“We were told verbally and a letter was put up on a board, but no-one will give us anything in writing,” one employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told Donegal Live.

“This is devastating news at a time when there is a real cost of living crisis and many of us are simply wondering how we will pay our bills.

“There are some married couples where both partners are working in Zeus and they will be left without income for those two weeks.”

Earlier this year, the EQT Private Equity firm acquired Zeus and staff felt secure about their future.

“We haven't had any guarantee that there won't be many temporary lay-offs later in the year and we also haven't had any guarantee that there won't be redundancies,” the staff member said.

“We understand that this is happening because of a lack of customer orders. They are hoping that orders will pick up by October time, but they're only guessing about that.

“When EQT took over Zeus, we all thought that everything was going to be great, but then this happens.”

Last year, a Zeus Recruiting Event took place at the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny.

Zeus is described as the world’s leading polymer extrusion manufacturer and material science innovator.

A spokesperson for the company said that the company saw 'an unprecedented surge' in customer demand in April 2020.

“As the healthcare industry stabilizes, we observe a corresponding normalization in the demand for medical device components,” the spokesperson said.

“Consequently, Zeus is no longer experiencing the heightened order urgency seen during the peak of the pandemic and the subsequent period.”

The spokesperson confirmed that 'a temporary manufacturing shutdown is being implemented at our Letterkenny facility during the first week in July and the first week in August to directly respond to short-term softness in customer demand and avoid future layoffs'.

The spokesperson added: “Zeus’ long-term prospects are strong, and we are confident that demand will rebound, as evidenced by our ongoing plant expansion efforts, which are on track for completion in 2025.

“Zeus is proud to call Letterkenny home and remains committed to our future here.”