CG Power strongly deny redundancy rumours in Cavan

The Manager Director (MD) of Crompton Greaves (CG) Power has dismissed suggestions that they are considering redundancies at its Cavan Town facility, which employs around 450 people, write Sean McMahon
 & Thomas Lyons.

James McMahon, the General Manager of the Cavan business, formerly known as Pauwels Trafo, said that hearsay regarding their demise is not new. “There have been rumours surrounding the plant since Pauwels, which we were then called, first opened its door in 1977. Most employees can recall stories of being told the plant won’t survive, you’re mad to join that place. However many of them are still here some with 40 years’ service.”
Speculation that the company was about to announce job losses or a reduced working week had grown in recent weeks. Those rumours intensified when a staff meeting was held at the Hotel Kilmore, Cavan.
However, Mr McMahon said there was nothing sinister about the off-site meeting: “CG Cavan, we aim to keep all our employees briefed on what is happening with our company. Our staff are one of our most important stakeholders and we engage them whenever we can.”
In October 2009, Pauwels Trafo rebranded and changed its name to CG in line with its parent company Crompton Greaves, which acquired the business in 2005. Mr McMahon said that the Indian owners of the company had previously considered selling CG Global Cavan.
“CG in India decided about an year back to sell some of its assets outside India. The plant in Cavan was included in the restructure programme. Due to non-fulfillment of certain conditions precedent, the deal did not go through. At this stage, there is no sale process under way for CG Cavan,” Mr McMahon said. The General Manager said that the future for the 450 workers is not “in any way” dependent on the sale of the plant. “We have a stable base load from multi-year framework contracts with utilities in Ireland, UK, France & Belgium. We are celebrating 40 years in Cavan this year and these contracts are with customers that we have supplied for 10, 20, 30 years. Actually the first transformers delivered from Cavan back in 1977 were to a customer that we still supply today.”
'No plans' for redundancies
With regard to the likelihood of any redundancies in the sort or medium term at the factory in Cavan Mr McMahon emphatically replied: “We have no plans to affect any redundancies in the short, medium or long term.”
Mr McMahon says that the company is confident of the future of their product. “A transformer is an essential part of bringing energy to the world. We make transformers and in doing so we provide the essential component to help bring energy to homes, businesses, hospitals and public areas. The market is there and transformers like ours will always be in demand. At CG Cavan it should be noted what we have 40 years experience in producing high quality and in demand products with a hard working and dynamic workforce.”