Story originally published 18/10/2003
UNION leaders at the Hoover factory at Cambuslang will launch a campaign today in an attempt to save hundreds of jobs.
Last week, management at the Hoover Candy operation informed shop stewards that production at the factory was to move to China.
But today union leaders plan to gather in Cambuslang Main Street to start a public petition to rally support for the 260 workers faced with unemployment.
They also plan to stage a protest march and lobby politicians at both Westminster and Holyrood to fight the threatened closure.
The Amicus works convenor, Eddie McAvoy, said: “Frankly we do not accept the company’s decision to close the factory. We have worked hard over a long period of time to make production on the site lean and mean.
“We believe that the company’s justification is flawed and we expected a similar level of loyalty from the company as our members have given them over the last 57 years.”
Hoover has been the mainstay for employment in Cambuslang and employed 5,000 people in its heyday in the Seventies. But now only 91 office staff are set to retain their jobs in Scotland, although they will be moved into smaller premises.
Hoover Candy is moving the jobs in an effort to cut production costs. Workers doing the equivalent work in China are paid around one tenth of those in the UK.
Mr McAvoy added: “We will do everything necessary to save this plant. With 60 years of heritage, it is an icon and we are not going to sit back and watch an Italian owner destroy British manufacturing. We are not going to walk away because the company want to get rich and increase profits.
“The labour laws are so weak it allows multinationals to come to the UK and make redundant all the employees. We are not prepared to accept that.”
Despite slumps in the manufacturing sector, leading to closures and job losses throughout the rest of Scotland, Hoover always insisted it would keep the plant open.
Last year the company said a contract to build a new generation of cleaners would safeguard jobs.
Cambuslang fought off competition from a sister plant in Portugal to clinch the £1.25 million deal. But the company said it was still losing about £1 million a month despite “substantial” investment in the facility.
Last night, Amicus’s Scottish regional secretary, John Quigley, said they would fight tooth and nail to save the plant.
He said: “Hoover is an icon of the Scottish manufacturing industry. We will be campaigning hard over the coming weeks to save the factory.
“During the consultation period we will dissect the company’s business case and rationale for the proposed closure of Cambuslang. I can assure the company that we will leave no stone unturned in our fight.”
Amicus’s regional officer, Bernie Hamilton, added: “Scotland has witnessed some real industrial travesties in recent years in the shape of closure decisions such as Motorola, Chunghwa ABB and Volvo.
“Hoover must not be allowed to go down the same route.”
Scotland has lost 30,000 manufacturing jobs in the past two years, according to figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics.
270,000 Scots were employed in the manufacturing sector in June. That was down from 300,000 in the summer of 2001, the ONS said.
Written by JOHN INNES from Scotsman.com