Wirral Remploy staff strike again in 'last-ditch' bid to save factory (From Wirral Globe)

Wirral Remploy staff strike again in 'last-ditch' bid to save factory

4:50pm Monday 13th August 2012 in News By Craig Manning

Remploy staff during recent day of action. Pic: Paul Heaps

REMPLOY staff Wirral have walked out again this afternoon in a ‘last-ditch’ attempt to save their factory from closure.

The company's site in Hickman’s Road, Birkenhead, is one of 27 facing the axe and due to close on Thursday.

Staff downed tools for a third time on Monday afternoon, following two 24-hour strikes within the last month.

In July, the government announced that the factories will close by the end of the year throwing about 1,700 disabled workers out-of-work. A further nine factories face an uncertain future. The remaining 18 are due to close or be sold-off next year.

Gareth Rees, GMB shop steward at the Birkenhead site, told the Globe today: “We’re due to close on Thursday and this is a last-ditch effort to try to stop that from happening.

“We want our employers to think serously about the damage this will do to all who are employed at the Birkenhead site.

“The recent strikes have gone very well and I think got the message out to the public that these closures are not wanted.

"When these factories close more than a thousand disabled workers across the country will be put the dole queue, with little hope of finding work elsewhere.

“We’d like to think that today’s action will save the factory but it seems that only divine intervention will do that now.”

Remploy workers have been greatly encouraged on by more than 8,500 individual messages of support.

The workers voted to strike because they believe the proposed closure negotiations were ‘a sham’; in protest at the intention to make disabled people compulsorily redundant for the first time at Remploy; and that the redundancy pay will be less than previous voluntary redundancies.