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 Brian Simpson supports the Trade Unions in their Crusade |
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Local MEP Brian Simpson expresses concern at closure of Remploy in St Helens & Wigan “I would like to express my utter dismay at the announcement that Remploy is proposing to close 43 of its factories, two of which is in St Helens and Wigan, within my region of the North
West of England. I have always been aware that working in a Remploy factory means that the individual works in an environment that caters for their particular needs and requirements which is not
the case in mainstream employment. They will be forced into mainstream employment, have to suffer the stress of travelling on public transport, the trauma of re-deployment, the relocation to another
plant may not always be feasible. This is something that our Government needs to address and help provide the same. To close Remploy would
be a complete disaster for the employees, many of whom enjoy the dignity of going to work and the social interaction that this brings with it. I am not convinced that this would again be the
case should the employees be forced to work in mainstream employment, many of whom have a high skills level and many of the jobs offered will be menial tasks which would be the greatest of
insults. Many of these employees will, I am afraid be forced to accept redundancy which will lower their quality of life considerably. I see the problem being that the excessive costs of
Remploy are not because it has too many workers but for the failings of Remploy itself for having an excessive management team. The Trade
Union Consortium has put together an Alternative Plan, Remploy 3, which seeks to reduce the costs of running Remploy factories by reducing duplication in management roles, waste management etc.
Grant Thornton’s whom the Remploy Trade Union Consortium employed believes that Remploy can be modernised and made cost effective without resorting to factory closures, on the contrary, the Remploy
Trade Union Consortium believes that Remploy factories should be the hub of any modernisation plan and should be utilised by disabled people in the communities they serve. Every person working
in a Remploy factory has the opportunity if they wish, to change employment, that choice is there. By closing Remploy factories, this will prevent disabled people having the choice of where
they are employed as many of the mainstream employment are not ready or equipped to employ them. I agree with the All Party Group of MP’s in their enquiry into the future of your programme
announced in May 2007 that they: "recommend that Remploy management stop its closure programme and develop a properly consulted, carefully thought-out business plan based on a
thriving suite of factories across the UK."Recommendation to Remploy management: revise the closure programme using the criteria of long term business sustainability, level of subsidy, location and
local labour market consideration.
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Formulate a proper business plan to identify key markets, explore new markets, and ensure proper income sustainability.
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Set up a task force to inform all central and local government purchasers of scope under Article 19 of EU legislation for providing procurement for reserving
contracts which support employment (which I and my fellow MEP’s fought hard to get and are extremely upset to see how little this Article is being used to date.)
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Employ new Sales and Marketing staff.
I am urging Remploy you to keep all Remploy factories open and I support the Trade Unions in their attempts to keep Remploy open in Wigan and St Helens, as the
true potential has yet to be fulfilled and they need the management and the to listen to the unions and fully involve them in decisions on the future of Remploy and also, local authorities need to be
more actively putting contracts into employ and other supported factories in line with the new EU and public procurement provisions which allow reserved contracts for supported employment.
The GMB, Unite and Community Unions are taking part in a crusade which means that they will be visiting every
Remploy factory from the North of Scotland to the South of England. They will be visiting the St Helens and Wigan factories on the 3rd and 4th September and I fully support
the trade union in their crusade to keep the factories open.” Ends
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