Remploy factory closures go ahead

Twenty-eight of Remploy's 83 factories employing disabled workers are to close, Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain has said. Ministers have said Remploy factories cost too much, but unions argue that the government is not doing enough to bring in business. The closures could mean up to 2,000 jobs will be lost. The government said 17 factories would close and 11 would be merged with other Remploy sites.

Ministers announced a £555m package in September intended to safeguard Remploy's future.

REMPLOY SITES CLOSING

Aintree

Brixton

Halifax

Hartlepool

Hillington

Hull

Leatherhead

Lydney

Mansfield

Medway

Pinxton

Plymouth

Southend

St Helens

Stockton

Treforest

York

The original plan was to close 43 of the company's sites. But after talks with unions, Remploy submitted "final proposals" to the government, which included the closure of 28 sites. There's a dispute over how many jobs will go. Remploy says 1,641 workers will be made redundant. But the GMB union says the true figure is more like 2,000. Mr Hain told the Commons the closure of some Remploy premises will cause "disappointment" but he said changes had to be made to secure the organisation's future.

He also said there will be no compulsory redundancies among those affected by the closures. "All those disabled workers who move into new employment will have all their terms and conditions, including membership of their final salary pension scheme, protected," he said. "The Remploy board will also look at any third-party interest in running these factories. I have been made aware of interest Remploy has received in keeping some form of production or training, which could well involve existing Remploy workers at five of the sites due for closure - Lydney, Glasgow Hillington, St Helens, Ystradgynlais and Brynamman.

REMPLOY SITES TO MERGE

Barnsley will move to Sheffield

Birkenhead CCU to Birkenhead

Bradford to Leeds

Brynammann to Neath

Ystradgynlais to undecided location

Chandlers Ford to Southampton

Jarrow to Newcastle Upon Tyne

Newcastle-under-Lyme to North Staffordshire

Stockport to Oldham

Woolwich to Barking

Redruth to Penzance

"At four other sites - Mansfield, Pinxton, Plymouth and York - there is the prospect of staff transfers to nearby, and mostly local authority-supported, plants."

Trade unions have said none of Remploy's factories should close and argued that they could be expanded if the company's senior management team were replaced. Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "This announcement has angered Remploy workers and their supporters. "This government-controlled operation has failed its people, its principles and its purpose. These closures are completely unnecessary. If Remploy was called Northern Rock, I am certain that we would not be seeing a single redundancy."

Tory spokesman Chris Grayling said the announcement would come as a "massive disappointment" to Remploy's employees, whose lives would be turned "upside down".

Remploy wants to place more disabled workers in mainstream employment, and aims to quadruple the number of jobs it finds outside its factories to 20,000 a year within five years.