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 | Brian opposes the closures of Remploy Factories |
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Open Letter to Chief Executive of Remploy Dear Mr Warner, I write to express my utter dismay
at the announcement that Remploy is proposing to close 43 of its factories, some of who are 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 urge you to keep all Remploy factories open for the reasons given above. I look forward to hearing from you soon, Best wishes, Brian Simpson Brian Simpson MEP
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