The pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline has announced to slash 130 jobs from its workforce in Dungarvan in the next four years. The announcement was made after the company indicated to shift its production of some pharmaceuticals to Spain. The shift in operations is part of the restructuring strategy of the company.

The company has said that it will continue the operations at its Irish plant, despite the job cuts.

The company has announced that 48 jobs will be cut down when the company will shift the manufacturing of some of its Panadol products from Dungarvan to Spain between 2012 and 2014. Another 82 jobs would be slashed in the next two years as part of a cost-cutting program. After the cuts, about 570 jobs will remain in Dungarvan.

At present, GlaxoSmithKline has a workforce of more than 1,500 people in Ireland and about half of them are in Dungarvan. Other people are employed in Dublin, Cork and Sligo.

Tony Kelly, the Regional Organizer of Trade Union Unite, which represents about 500 of the staff, said that the staff was in shock after the announcement of job cuts. The union representatives will conduct a meeting with the management at GlaxoSmithKline today to discuss about the cuts.