BlackBerry earlier this week confirmed that it was cutting some 300 jobs in the Waterloo area. It today announced the upcoming closure of its office in Halifax on January 10, 2014. This will cut a further 350 jobs, most of these in the technical support area.
In a statement, BlackBerry said: “We know that our employees in the Halifax area have worked hard on behalf of our company and we are grateful for their commitment and contributions. This is difficult news for them and for the Halifax community. However, these changes are necessary in order to refocus our business to drive the company towards profitability and success in a maturing and more competitive mobile industry.”
If there is a silver lining in the story, it is that some 35 employees will be offered new jobs but will need to work from home once the office closes.
BlackBerry will also pay back the CA$2 million contribution it had received from the Nova Scotia government as part of a five-year CA$10 million agreement to keep at least 400 jobs in Nova Scotia at an average salary of at least $60,000 a year. The money was to have been used to create a “BlackBerry 10 Centre of Excellence” to offer training and research on the new BlackBerry 10 platform.
With BlackBerry planning to cut some 4,500 jobs over the next few months, this is unfortunately not going to be the last such announcement.
Source : The Globe and Mail