Workers at the closure-threatened Hoover factory staged a mass demonstration today as part of their campaign to save the plant.
Around 250 people took part in the demonstration in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, outside the factory and later in the town centre.
The company has blamed the falling price of vacuum cleaners across Europe and the plant’s failure to reduce manufacturing costs for the move.
But union officials insist the Cambuslang plant is efficient, and said Hoover should repay the loyalty shown to it by its Scottish workers.
Amicus, the engineering union, added that Hoover should be investing in research and development and skills training in Cambuslang rather than Merthyr Tydfil in Wales or moving production to China.
The closure of the plant, which was announced in October, is expected to lead to the loss of as many as 260 jobs.
Danny Carrigan, Amicus assistant general secretary, said: “Hoover is merely the most powerful symbol to date of industry failing to invest in the workforce, skills and in technology.
“I am not saying that Cambuslang workers should compete against a low wage economy like China but there is every reason for us to compete with Wales as the most innovative and highly motivated workforce in the UK.
“Hoover Candy is playing at politics with people’s jobs and we want them to come clean.”
Hoover has been a major employer in Cambuslang for nearly 60 years, once employing around 5,000 workers in the 1970s.
From The Scotsman