Scottish Government must help now to save Remploy jobs

Unite has called on the Scottish Government to quickly make good on its earlier commitment to help save Remploy jobs in Scotland ahead of a third debate on the issue in the Scottish Parliament tomorrow (Thursday 29^th November).

Unite is urging MSPs to put pressure on the Scottish Government to step-in with a rescue package that will support disabled employment across Scotland’s Remploy sites, using the example of the Welsh Government’s ‘Employer Support Grant’ (ESG) as a model of intervention.

In Scotland the fight to save jobs for vulnerable workers suffered a huge blow yesterday after it was announced the Remploy Springburn plant – the only Scottish & UK manufacturer of wheelchairs – would be closing after the DWP said a buyer could not be found.

Scottish Government Minister for Enterprise Fergus Ewing has visited all Scottish Remploy factories in recent weeks but with tensions in the workforce reaching breaking point following the closure of the Springburn site urgent clarity is now required.

Unite Regional Industrial Officer Lyn Turner said, “Alex Salmond has previously said that Remploy ‘goes beyond being a supported business and a place work and the Scottish Government will do all it can to assist’. Our members need that help now. 

The UK Government is throwing these vulnerable workers on the unemployment scrapheap and the white knight buyer process has been a sham.  Without the intervention of devolved governance these factories will close.

The Welsh Government has shown that there is a better way with the creation of the ESG – a subsidy scheme established to help employers recruit Remploy workers made redundant throughout 2012 – and they have told us they would be happy to speak with Alex Salmond at the next meeting of First Ministers. 

Opportunities are there to save these jobs and it would be an unforgiveable failure of Scottish governance and politics if we don’t even try.”  

The devastating impact of the UK Government’s ‘Access to Work’ policy has already resulted in over 1,500 compulsory redundancies across Remploy and the closure of nearly two-thirds of its factories.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:  For further information please contact Unite Regional Industrial Officer Lyn Turner on 07980871394.

Please see details of the Remploy ESG Paper (Wales).

North Lanarkshire Council Cuts – Think again!

A message to all our Unite members living and working in North Lanarkshire Council:

North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) estimates that it will need to save as much as £73.3million between 2013/14 and 2015/16.  In terms of jobs, Unite has been told that saving will conservatively mean the cut of some 1,400 jobs.

NLC has not sat down with Unite and other trade unions to discuss the best way forward and they haven’t properly engaged with the wider communities of North Lanarkshire, where this massive cuts agenda will hit the hardest.

Instead they carried-out a survey called ‘The Way Ahead – Lets talk about our future’ and asked the people of North Lanarkshire where the proposed £73 million worth of cuts should be made.

How many people completed this survey? Only 3000 – roughly 1% of North Lanarkshire’s estimated population of 326,000.  Not quite a majority of public opinion…

Furthermore, this fluffy rhetoric of ‘let’s talk about our future’ masks a sinister reality for many of NLC’s workers – one of jobs and pay cuts on a frightening scale.

Unite believes that:

• NLC have completely undermined the collective bargaining process at a time where they should be holding meaningful discussions with the workforce in order to offset these cuts and sustain services the best we can.
• NLC have abdicated their responsibilities, effectively pitting services and people against each other where the only losers will be the public and the workers.  And with the extent of the cuts that will be enforced there be will no winners.
• NLC are playing politics with livelihoods and futures in a time of extreme economic difficulty. We need a concerted effort from all levels of politics to work with the workforce and public to re-think these cuts.

We believe this process, brought about without any consultation with the trade unions, demands a collective response. 

If we’re going to have a debate on jobs and the services which local communities rely on, then the scope of that debate should be extended meaningfully to everyone with an interest or role in the running of NLC.

That’s why we’re asking NLC workers and residents to contact their local Councillor ahead of 6^th December, when these cuts will be confirmed, and tell them to think again.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Click on this link to find your Councillor and Council Ward;

2. Click on the Councillor’s email address which will open a new email;  and

3. Copy and paste our campaign message Think again! into the email and send.

Be sure to put your own name on the email to officially register your opposition to the cuts.

Collectively, our hands are not tied.  We can all pull together for a future that works across North Lanarkshire. 

 

‘Urgent clarity’ needed over jobs as VION seeks sell-offs

Unite members at Cambuslang meat processing giant VION have demanded urgent clarity on job security after the Dutch-owned company announced it wants to sell-off its UK food operations this afternoon (Monday 19^th November).

The Cambuslang site employs over 350 workers and is one of 40 UK sites employing a total of 12,500 workers – the majority of whom are employed in its pork, red meat and poultry divisions which are earmarked for sale.

Unite Convenor at VION Scot Walker said, “Unite will be approaching management imminently, both local and national, to get urgent clarity on the security of our jobs.

We’ve been aware of the speculation surrounding VION’s future interests for some time now although nothing was confirmed until today – the workforce heard through the same company sources as the media.

VION is a major employer in the South Lanarkshire area and losing jobs or being on the end of pay cuts in this economic climate is unthinkable.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors: Notes to Editors:  For further information please contact Unite Convenor at Vion Scot Walker on 07985460943 or Peter Welsh in the Unite Scotland Campaigns Unit on 07810157931.

Local authority bosses ‘bottle-out’ of defending jobs and services

Unite has slammed officials at one of Scotland’s biggest local authorities today (Friday 9^th November) after they left the future of some 1,600 jobs at the mercy of an online survey.  

North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) claims it needs to save up to £73 million over the next four years and carried-out a public survey via their website asking people where service cuts should be made in order to make these savings.

The survey, called ‘The Way Ahead’ and which also closes today, will be used by the council’s officials over the coming weeks and months to set-out a savage public sector cuts agenda.

Unite Regional Industrial Officer, Tam Connarty, said, “This fluffy rhetoric of ‘let’s talk about our future’ masks the sinister reality for many North Lanarkshire public servants which is one of jobs cuts on a frightening scale. 

NLC have completely undermined the collective bargaining process and are playing the worst kind of populist politics at a time where they should be holding urgent discussions with workers to sustain services the best we can. 

Instead, they’ve bottled-out of dealing with the big issues they’re paid handsomely to do and made the public judge, jury and executioner for the services they rely on and the future of workers who will rank among family and friends.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors: For further information please contact Unite Regional Industrial Officer Tam Connarty on 07810157911.