Talks are due to begin this week to try to save three Remploy factories earmarked for closure under a scheme by Coalition government ministers which has seen hundreds of disabled workers lose their jobs.
GMB negotiators will be meeting executives from Metalliform, which is poised to take over Remploy’s furniture factories in Blackburn, Sheffield and Neath Port Talbot.
The company specialises in manufacturing furniture for schools.
Jerry Nelson, GMB National Officer for Remploy, said: ”We look forward to meeting the company and starting constructive discussions on the future of these factories.
“Our major concern is to protect as many jobs as possible and maintain the current terms and conditions of our members, we will insist on our disabled members being treat with the fairness and the dignity and respect they rightly deserve in this process.”
Negotiators have set a target of the end of July to conclude the take-over talks.
Officials say they will be attempting to preserve as many jobs as possible at the three sites. In similar negotiations with potential buyers over the last year, unions have tried to secure agreements over the long-term security of jobs with the new owners as well as transferring pay and pension rights.
The Department of Work and Pensions says it intends to enforce its own timetable to close all the remaining Remploy factories by September, with the loss of 1,000 jobs.
You can watch our film report on the strike campaign by Remploy workers to try to save their factories here:
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