A BITTER pay row has raised new fears over the Hoover factory at Cambuslang.
Bosses at the plant want to extend the working week by an extra hour – but are refusing to pay staff more wages.
Union leaders fear the vacuum cleaner factory could be shut just weeks after it was saved from closure.
Bosses bowed to pressure from politicians and unions and dropped controversial plans to move production out of Scotland.
Seventy-two production jobs have been saved, and the 90 workers involved in research, sales and repairs will remain on site.
However, 218 production staff have been made redundant, with 126 leaving the factory today amid tearful scenes.
One union official said: “This is a black day for Cambuslang but it could get worse.
“Management agreed to retain a manufacturing presence in the area only if new working practices were agreed with the remaining staff. “But several issues remain unresolved and if agreement can’t be reached there is a real possibility that the company will revisit the closure issue.”
The situation is so grave that works convener Eddie McAvoy has delayed taking his redundancy package.
He was due to leave today but has decided to stay for another two weeks – with the blessing of bosses – in a bid to resolve the dispute. Mr McAvoy said: “It’s farcical. We work a 37-hour week but management now want the manual production staff to work an extra hour – without a pay rise.
“Management want parity with a factory in Wales where staff work a 38-hour week.
“The company doesn’t understand why we won’t work the extra hour for free.
“We finish at noon on Fridays, so working an extra hour is no big deal. But we want to be paid for it. We can produce an extra 120 cleaners in that hour.”
Peter Murtagh, Hoover’s homecare vice-president, who runs the Cambuslang site, said: “The outcome is not going to affect the decision to stay.” He described discussions with union officials as “constructive” and said new working practices were being proposed to make operations more flexible and cost effective to guarantee a long-term future for the workforce.
The row comes weeks after the Italian-owned Hoover Candy Group abandoned plans to shut its only manufacturing site in Scotland and switch production to China and Wales.
Bosses are going ahead with the transfer of upright cleaners to the Far East but pledged to retain production of a new model at Cambuslang at least until 2005.
Bosses said they only agreed to retain the Cambuslang site, which opened in the 1940s, because Enterprise Minister Jim Wallace ruled they did not have to repay grants of £1.7million.
From The Glasgow Evening Times