Fears as Nortel seeks protection

There are fears for the future of Nortel jobs in County Antrim following the news that the telecoms giant has applied for bankruptcy protection.

The Canadian firm said the move was "a step towards a global reorganisation" and it expected day-to-day operations to continue without interruption.

Nortel employs 550 people at Monkstown, Newtownabbey, and 300 in Galway.

Alliance East Antrim assembly member Séan Neeson said he was concerned at the news coming out of Canada.

"The company provides a large number of high quality, highly paid jobs in the East Antrim area and my main concern is the welfare and future of employees at the Monkstown site," he said.

Nortel employs about 95,000 people worldwide, including about 2,000 in the UK, where it is a key Olympic sponsor.

Under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection law, a firm can keep trading while it aims to sort out its finances.

The Monkstown plant opened in the 1960s as a Standard Telephone and Cables manufacturing facility, which was bought by Nortel in 1992.

More than 2,000 people worked at the Monkstown plant at its peak in 2000, but it has been hit by a series of redundancies.

The company website describes the Monkstown site as a multifunctional, 34 acre facility, providing services from design to distribution.

It is the headquarters of the Nortel's European, Middle East and Africa supply chain operations.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Nortel Networks
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites