Confirmed: 170 jobs to be cut in restructuring at UPC Ireland

19 Feb 2015

UPC has confirmed that up to 170 jobs at the TV and broadband player are to be lost as part of a restructuring at the company.

The redundancies are to take place across five offices around Ireland.

SIPTU, which represents 100 of the workers, said it is in discussions with the company.

It is understood UPC is to implement a restructuring plan that will see some operations in Ireland relocated to the Philippines.

UPC said where possible, redundancies will be achieved on a voluntary basis.

“It is hoped that available redeployment opportunities will minimise the impact on staff,” the company said in a statement.

UPC said it expects the various steps associated with this plan will be substantially completed by the summer of 2015 and no further redundancies are foreseen.

“We have announced a restructuring programme involving a certain number of our business operations,” UPC Ireland CEO Magnus Ternsjö said.

“This follows an internal review of existing and future business requirements. Making these decisions to change is difficult, but necessary. Our priority today is to meet with colleagues impacted by the programme and engage with them in the most supportive and transparent way possible.

“The changes taking place will impact a number of divisions across the company but primarily relate to activities in customer care, sales and field operations. UPC will also migrate additional activity from certain outsource partners and relocate this business to other third-party suppliers within the Liberty Global group. 

“These changes are necessary to ensure the company remains competitive on all fronts and remains an agile and sustainable business,” Ternsjö said.

Cable broadband image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com