More jobs are to be axed at troubled telecommunications giant Nortel’s plant in Monkstown.

Nortel’s Toronto-headquartered parent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in January and put its UK arm into administration after a downturn in business.

At the end of March 228 workers, including 87 from Nortel in Monkstown were laid off from its UK operation.

Administrators Ernst & Young confirmed yesterday that the company’s UK employee forum had been notified that due to an ongoing decline in revenues “it will be necessary, going forward, to facilitate a number of redundancies for economic reasons,” but said it is too early to provide details of numbers or which departments will be affected.

Terry Collins, the Unite Union’s regional industrial organiser, said talk inside the plant about which jobs might go had unsettled the 400 or so remaining staff.

“We are very concerned about the future viability of the company and clearly the employees are concerned that they will have no jobs.

“They are wondering will they be treated the same as the 87 that were made redundant? I wouldn’t hold out much hope that they would get more than statutory payments,” he said.

The employees who lost their jobs in March were given no notice and only got statutory redundancy payments and reduced pensions, leading Unite to claim Ernst & Young had deliberately |ignored legislation requiring a 30 day consultation.

The workers who were sacked in March will today hold a protest at the site at 8.15am over their treatment and will be joined by current employees for another demonstration at 1.30pm.

Mr Collins said the Union fears a knock-on effect of cutbacks on Nortel’s suppliers and contractors, including Keuhne + Nagel Logistics, which has staff based at Nortel’s premises.

SDLP MP Alasdair McDonnell has raised the situation with the Prime Minister and with representatives of Ernst & Young.

He said: “We know that in a recession people will lose jobs but the way in which they lose them is crucial. There is no excuse for denying workers respect. There is no excuse for denying workers their employment and pension rights.

“Serious questions have to be asked of a system of employment law and insolvency law which permits and encourages companies to abdicate all responsibility and protection towards their workers many of who like the workers in Nortel have given a life time of service.”

In response the administrator said: “The Joint Administrators appreciate that this is a very difficult situation for those employees affected.

“Although regrettable, the redundancies, without the support of the redundancy packages that had been paid in past restructuring programmes pre-administration, were necessary for the survival of the business and in accordance with insolvency law that requires that one group of creditors is not preferred over another.”