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December 2006

December 12th 2006

Derbyshire: Saint-Goban to sack 220 workers

Amicus, the UK’s largest trade union in the manufacturing sector, has expressed anger at the announcement made by French-owned company Saint-Gobain that it is to close its Ilkeston plant with the loss of 220 jobs.

The factory makes pipes for the UK water industry.  

The company’s stated:

“Together with major increases in the cost of steel scrap (a raw material) and high energy costs, this has had a significant impact on the profitability of production.

"We have considered a wide range of options, but the plant at Ilkeston is highly specialised and not suitable for making other products.”

Saint-Gobain’s intention is to transfer iron pipe production from its factory at Ilkeston, Derbyshire, to its European pipe division's sites in France and Germany.  Saint-Gobain is among the world’s biggest private sector firms, ranking 106 in the Forbes 500.

Amicus Regional Officer, Tony Tinley, commented:

“This announcement, which comes just before Christmas, is a heavy blow to the workers who face an uncertain few months ahead.

“We will be meeting the management tomorrow to discuss and test the need for redundancies. When we have established the numbers we will progress to establishing redundancy terms and supporting our members to find alternative employment.

“Production will still continue until the April 2007 and Amicus is continuing to press for an enhanced package for our members affected by the closure. This is yet another blow to manufacturing in the East Midlands.”

Past weeks have seen 850 manufacturing jobs go from the region. These include  Dormer Tools, based in Worksop, which has announced 200 job losses as a step towards the closure of the plant with production shifted to Brazil; Lincoln Castings in North Hykeham which has said that unless they find a buyer 200 workers will be made redundant; and GE Electric based in Leicester which has announced 200 job losses.