Page 125 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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1 106 Crisis Communication

opportunities to use the cash that would be coming from their
redundancy payments. Those who wished to retrain for a new
skill or to set up in business were provided with skills and busi-
ness training opportunities.
While assisting employees to prepare for the change in their
lives, the programme was also important in helping to maintain
morale while the logistics of closing down were being imple-
mented. It is a credit to the management and workforce that the
closure went so smoothly. No customer order missed its deadline
and the machinery at the plant was moved seamlessly to other
NEC Electronic plants overseas.
The final chapter in the closure of NEC Semiconductors at
Ballivor was concluded in the same spirit of openness and
dignity with which the company had conducted its business over
the previous 30 years. Formal calls were made to the Irish
Government to thank the state bodies that had assisted the
company in setting up and operating.
Two formal events were held on 29 and 30 September 2006.
On Friday 29 September, when work was completed, a closure
event was held for staff and representatives from the local com-
munity. This culminated in the lowering of the Irish, Japanese
and company flags from outside the premises. During the event
a number of speeches were made by former and current
employees, employee representatives and local community rep-
resentatives. Extracts from these speeches give a glimpse of the
goodwill that the company had accumulated and the esteem in
which it was held.

Theresa Shaw, one of the first workers in the plant in 1976 said:
‘We are thankful for the quality of life we have enjoyed from
being employed by this company. NEC you have served us
well.’
Sean Gunning, who had been with NEC for 27 years,
recounted meeting a reporter some time after the closure
announcement in February. The reporter told Sean that it was
remarkable that ‘despite all the people they had in the factory,
they couldn’t find one single employee to say anything bad
about NEC’.
A former HR manager, Justin Wallace, described the feelings
in the company towards the Japanese management and staff
who had come to Ballivor to work at various periods over the