REMPLOY workers fighting to save their Wirral factory appeared to have lost their battle last night.
The Central Cutting Unit in the Birkenhead/Wallasey docks area finally shut its doors as the last of the workers left.
Hopes had been raised last week when Gordon Brown held private talks with union officials fighting to save 28 Remploy factories across the UK from closing with the loss of 2,000 jobs.
Disabled workers from some of the threatened sites had joined officials from the GMB to meet the Prime Minister following his speech to Labour’s spring conference in Birmingham.
Mr Brown said he would reconsider the future of two of the factories – York and Birkenhead – and report back, according to workers.
But it now appears the Cutting Unit has been closed permanently.
Local Conservative councillor Leah Fraser, who has supported the workers in their battle to save the factory, said they had been treated with “utter contempt” by the Government.
She said: “The shocking speed of the closure has been sneaky and underhand.
“It was a profitable factory receiving new orders and providing quality jobs for people who might otherwise have been receiving incapacity benefit.”
According to Remploy, of the 40 employees there, four have now transferred to the other Birkenhead site, 22 took voluntary redundancy, 13 took early retirement and there was one compulsory redundancy of a non-disabled employee.
Industrial action was held by Remploy workers facing factory closures throughout February in protest at the closure plans.
They were furious at the decision made by former Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain, who at first appeared to put a block on the closures during last year’s Labour Party conference, when stating there would be no closures without ministerial approval. But late last year it was announced 28 plants employing more than 1,600 workers would close. Fifteen factories had been removed from the original list.
Both the Aintree and St Helens sites were identified for closure, while it was confirmed that the Central Cutting Unit in Wallasey would be shut and merged with the Birkenhead factory.
The workers had hoped to change the Government’s mind and for the first time more than 100 Remploy workers took part in the industrial action.
Last night a spokeswoman for Remploy said the company has been “in consultation with its trade unions since May 2007, and is now implementing the modernisation proposal approved by the Secretary of State in November”.
liammurphy
