Bausch and Lomb jobs in Waterford said safe

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — The New York based company Bausch and Lomb is selling its sunglasses business to the Italian Luxottica company for $640 million, but the 350 jobs in the Waterford plant will not be threatened by the deal, a spokesman said.

Bausch and Lomb has about 40 percent of the global up-market sunglasses business with brands such as Ray-Ban, Revo and Killer Loop but has increasingly been concentrating on eye health care, drugs and contact lenses.

The company employs 1,600 in this part of the business in Waterford, most of them involved in lens manufacture.

Bausch and Lomb’s Ray-Ban sunglasses were first developed in the 1920s to help American air force pilots cope with glare.

The 146-year-old company employs 15,000 people and is the world’s largest eye-care company.