Global jobs to go at chemical giant Dow
GLOBAL chemical giant Dow, which employs nearly 230 people on Teesside, has announced 5,000 job cuts as it closes 20 plants and idles 180 more. The news comes as official UK jobless figures were expected to nudge towards the two million mark today.
The $54bn Dow group, which plans a major reorganisation of its operations in the New Year, said it needed to make $1.3bn in cost savings over the next 12 months. It follows similar announcements in recent weeks from rivals DuPont and BASF who have all been hit by the global economic slowdown.
As one of the world’s largest groups, operating in 160 countries with 46,000 employees, Dow is seen as a bellweather for industry, but while the news was grim for employees, investors welcomed the strategy, boosting the company’s share price to $20.80 today.
A spokesperson said it was too early to say when and if the four Teesside plants at Billingham, Middlesbrough, Seal Sands and Wilton, would be affected.
“This is a global directive and local impact at individual sites at this time has not yet been determined,” she said. “Specific impacts are still being finalized. The decisions will be based on business drivers that may vary across businesses, sites and functions.” Further announcements are expected early in 2009.
All four Teesside plants are part of the group’s core plastics/chemicals business. At least three of the plants are involved in specialty chemical production - an area that Dow has concentrated on as part of its growth strategy.
Dow Seal Sands site has been part of the Teesside landscape for a quarter of a century. It was acquired by Dow in 1998 to manufacture two main products, chelating agents and speciality chemicals. The Middlesbrough and Billingham plants are part of Dow Haltermann Custom Processing, producing hydrocarbon-based specialties and solvents for the pharmaceutical, fine chemical, cosmetic and automotive industries. The Dow Wilton plant makes ethylene oxide and monoethylene glycol, used in detergents, and diethylene glycol, which is a constituent of antifreeze.
Analysts were today expecting the number of people claiming unemployment benefit to climb to one million while the wider jobless total, including those not eligible for the dole, was predicted to have climbed to well over last month’s 1.8m. The TUC predicted the unemployment rate would hit 6% for the first time since 1999.
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