R-R workers in Liverpool believe factory is already doomed

Aug 31 2007 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

MOST workers at Rolls-Royce’s Liverpool factory believe the plant is already doomed, a worker has told the Daily Post.

Speculation about the Netherton factory and its 200 workers has been swirling for some time and this month the company announc-ed it was consulting with staff and unions about the site’s future.

In an internal memo, a senior Rolls-Royce executive suggested moving production of gas turbines from Liverpool to its plant in Ohio, USA, saying high costs and an adverse exchange rate had hit Liverpool’s competitiveness.

But a worker at the site, who has asked to remain anonymous, said employees felt Rolls-Royce had already decided to close the factory and claimed the firm was making it hard for Liverpool to compete with the American operations.

They said: “Virtually the entire workforce, probably including the management team, believe that R-R have already decided to close the factory. The business is a major supplier to the oil and gas industry, yet, at a time when that industry is at its most profitable, it intends to scale back its operations.

“The business’s management team is based in North America. When faced with the threat of closure/relocation they have delib-erately raised Liverpool’s unit costs and taken work destined for Liver-pool and used it to fill their North American plant.”

The Atlantic Park plant, in Liverpool, produces turbines for heavy industry.

In the memo earlier this month, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Rolls-Royce vice-president of energy operations, said “fluctuating work volumes, a high cost base and an adverse (dollar) exchange rate” had affected the Liverpool factory.

He said: “These factors suggest that the energy business could more effectively and efficiently operate out of one, single US factory, Mount Vernon.”

The Liverpool worker said Rolls-Royce customers in European and the Middle Eastern would not want to travel to the US and wanted pro-ducts built to European standards.

“It is disgusting how keen R-R, a British company, are to move work abroad, to a factory that will inevit-ably lose all of the work because of its higher labour and transport cost, its poorer quality and its geographical position. Once the skills in Liverpool are lost, it is highly unlikely that another UK manufacturer will step into the void and gain the business.”

A spokesman from Rolls-Royce’s Energy division, in Ohio, said it was too early to comment, adding: “No decision has been made”.

A spokesperson for the Amicus section of Unite the Union said a senior official would meet plant managers next week.

alistairhoughton