Northern Ireland lost over 800 jobs in the space of 24 hours with the announcements that a car components firm in east Belfast and a textiles firm in Co Tyrone are to close.
The Japanese firm TK-ECC in Dundonald in east Belfast announced yesterday that it is to shut down with the loss of 550 jobs.
The previous day the Herdman's spinning mill in Sion Mills, near Strabane announced it was closing with the loss of 270 jobs. While there had been concern about Herdman's, union representatives and workers at TK-ECC said they were completely unprepared for the closure of the Dundonald plant. The closure is being blamed on "overwhelming competition" from abroad.
TK-ECC, which opened in 1979 under General Motors ownership, is beginning a 90-day consultation process with employees ahead of the closure.
The company in a brief statement said the decision was forced by its shareholders' refusal to provide further finance. There had been some signals that the factory could be in difficulty. Last January the company, which makes seat-belts, shed 300 jobs.
TK-ECC, although on the outskirts of east Belfast, falls in the Strangford constituency, and local DUP MP Ms Iris Robinson described the news as "devastating".
She said that she expressed concern when the plastic injection moulding element of the company was transferred to Poland.
She added that this effectively was doing away with the "profitable" element of the firm, and that it triggered the earlier 300 job losses.
Ms Robinson claimed the company refused to meet her at the time to discuss her concerns about the overall future of TK-ECC in Northern Ireland.
This announcement came less than a day after the announcement on Thursday night that 270 jobs were to go with the closure of Herdman's which has been the main employer in Sion Mills since 1835, and even remained in operation during the ravages of the Famine. Up to the 1970s it employed up to 1,200 people but in recent years has been struggling to compete with the cheaper textile manufacturing costs of eastern Europe and the Far East. Last year it paid off 160 workers.
It said it could no longer sustain mounting losses.
It is expected that production will be transferred to South Africa where Herdman's has opened a plant.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Mr Ivan Barr also described the closure as "devastating", stating that the general district around Strabane would be badly hit by the job losses.
