BAUSCH AND LOMB, the health company, has announced 125 new jobs for Waterford.
The announcement comes less than a year after the company told staff that 200 jobs would be shed at the facility and a further 900 would be at risk.
Negotiations with unions and staff led to Valeant, the company’s owner, pledging to invest in the plant.
The company today announced a €75 million plan, which will also create 150 construction jobs.
The investment, supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation through IDA Ireland, is expected to generate 125 additional jobs by the end of 2017 and will provide the plant with capacity to meet expected demand for its range of contact lenses.
Bausch and Lomb had also announced 50 new jobs in a €41 million investment in November and will bring its staff numbers in Ireland to over 1,200 by the end of 2017.
Siptu organiser Alan O’Leary said that the investment was an endorsement of the deal reached last May.
“While challenges remain, the fundamental reason why the workers in Bausch and Lomb accepted major changes as part of the restructuring agreement was the commitment made by Valeant to invest in the long term future of the plant.”
Last year a dark cloud hung over Waterford with the public threat to close the Bausch and Lomb plant with the potential loss of over 1,200 jobs.
“Since then the sacrifice, hard work and dedication of the workers in the plant, in adopting significant operational change, has created the environment for senior management of the company to consider the Waterford facility as a location for major new investment.”
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