SEAGATE Technologies has confirmed it intends using some enforced redundancies to cut its Derry workforce by 70.
The US company, which makes hard drives and develops other top-of-the-range products, said it is being forced to cut the workforce at its Springtown facility on the outskirts of the city.
"It is not easy to make decisions that affect people's lives in this way, but we believe this is the best way forward for the company right now," the firm said in a statement.
The redundancies will be both voluntary and compulsory, the company said, and will reduce the 1,400 strong workforce by about five per cent.
The firm said: "As indicated in recent public statements related to our latest earnings announcement, Seagate is undertaking a number of actions to better position the company for success and growth and to respond to new demand levels within the industry.
"These new levels are a result of a very dynamic and disrupted storage industry, driven by accelerating usage shifts of technologies and architectures by end users, and underpinned by a weak macro-economic environment.
"Unfortunately the required actions include some reduction in the company's workforce."
Since opening in 1993, Seagate has been one of the biggest employers in Derry.
Devastating blow for Seagate workers losing their jobs. Not helped by the Executive's failure to attract alternative jobs to Derry.
— Colum Eastwood (@columeastwood) May 30, 2016
The company announced a £34.7 million investment in R&D in 2014 with the focus on cutting-edge, heat-assisted magnetic recording technology.
Staff at the Springtown site were informed of the job losses on Monday afternoon, amounting to five per cent of all employees.
Seagate, which opened in Derry in 1993, manufactures components for computer hard drives.
It was brought to Derry by former SDLP leader John Hume who held several meetings with the US-based company to persuade it to open in the city.
It currently employs around 1,400 people at its Derry site which also hosts one of its research and development units.
The announcement follows a fall in profits in the first quarter of this year.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described the announcement as “devastating.”
In a post on Twitter, he said: “Devastating blow for Seagate workers losing their jobs. Not helped by the Executive’s failure to attract jobs to Derry.”
