Planned job cuts at PayPal should be “last resort” says TD

PayPal has become the latest tech giant to announce lay-offs, as the tech industry has gone through a 2nd winter of deep job cuts.

It is understood that up to 200 jobs are going at PayPal, with workers in Blanchardstown among those affected.

While the Dundalk office is understood to be the worst affected, the cuts in Blanchardstown follow on from 35 job losses at PayPal last March.

It was reported last March that PayPal was looking to sell its campus in Ballycoolin in a bid to cut costs.

The cuts at PayPal follow in the wake of Microsoft cutting jobs at Activision/Blizzard, with Dublin staff affected by the job cuts.

Riot Games, which opened a state-of-the-art broadcast centre for Esports in summer 2022 in Swords, also announced that Dublin staff are likely to face job cuts.

The tech industry has implemented a series of austerity measures amid recession fears in Europe and is attempting to use the hiring spree during the Covid-19 pandemic as justification for cutting numbers.

Labour’s enterprise spokesperson Ged Nash said he spoke with spoken with PayPal executives and said job losses should be a “last resort.”

“The devastating news of the loss of up to 205 jobs across PayPal in Ireland is a tremendous blow to the workers and families,” the Louth TD said.

“Workers at the payments firm have restructuring fatigue, having been subjected to a number of rounds of job losses in the last two to three years.”

“We know under the law on collective redundancies their plans should be treated as a proposal and not a final decision as the consultation process with staff has yet to get underway.”

Nash said he made his expectations PayPal “crystal clear”.

“I requested directly that the company executives seek to identify potential cost savings and redeployment as an alternative to the nuclear option of redundancies in the first instance.”

“The proposed redundancy being contemplated should not be a done deal and neither should the 28-day formal consultation be treated as a token process by the company.”

He said that PayPal “must recognise” the human impact of these decisions and engage with staff representatives in a meaningful and constructive manner.

“It is imperative that the concerns and well-being of the affected workers and their families are placed at the forefront of any discussions or decisions made by PayPal regarding these potential job losses.”