 | 'Rather than adopt the complacent attitude that the British Chancellor has shown to the local economy in the past week, we need a plan to boost the Scottish and local economy and allow us to compete for jobs and investment. Perhaps this announcement will shake off his complacency about the area's above average unemployment rate and the 1599 job losses at Rosyth alone since 1997.' SNP candidate Douglas Chapman, 24 th January 2006. |  |
PRINTER giants Lexmark dealt West Fife one of its biggest-ever jobs blows on Tuesday with the announcement they are to close their Rosyth factory, putting 700 people out of work.
Unemployment figures in West Fife will increase by almost a third after bosses at the non-unionised firm delivered the news at a half-hour high-noon meeting.
Distraught staff left the plant on Tuesday for a 24-hour 'cooling off' period after the company reported that earnings had fallen by 50 per cent since January last year.
Lexmark will close the Rosyth plant as part of a world-wide restructuring scheme due to plummeting profits caused by cheaper printing equipment eating into their market.
The American company recently published its quarterly results which showed earnings last year plummeted from £98 million to £52 million.
Next week, most of the employees will be given an exact date for their last shift, when they finish working their 90 days' notice.
And when the plant closes, the workers will collect a redundancy settlement of one month's wages for every year they worked at the Rosyth factory.
The plant's general manager, Alan Speirs, said, 'We truly regret the loss of jobs in this community. While we do not have the ability to change the impact of technology or economics, we nevertheless recognise the challenges facing our employees and their families.
'Lexmark employees have worked hard to contribute to the company's success over the past 10 years. Likewise, the community has supported our business.'
The company received a total of £11.8 million in grants from the Scottish Executive over 10 years in Rosyth in a number of regional support assistance deals to safeguard jobs in West Fife.
After the closure announcement, Fife Council moved to assure the 700 workers it would offer support in finding new jobs.
A spokesman said, 'Developing a strong business base with a good mix of local and international companies is key to making Fife the place to live and work and job losses on this scale are a real blow.
'Any job losses brings great uncertainty for staff and their families and we will ensure that help and support will be offered to those affected through the PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) team to help secure future employment.'
Scottish Enterprise also pledged their support for shell-shocked employees after meeting senior Lexmark officials on Tuesday afternoon.
Scottish Enterprise Fife chief executive Joe Noble said, 'Our primary focus and concern at this time is with the employees to ensure appropriate alternative employment and re-training opportunities are made available.'
And yesterday (Wednesday), Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen asked the local enterprise company to set up a Ôrapid-reaction team' to support the workforce.
In 2002, the Executive paid £275,000 to Lexmark in regional support assistance to safeguard at least 53 jobs at the plant and keep it open until April 2008.
Company bosses will now sit down with the Executive to work out and settle any outstanding debts.
The Admiralty Road site will continue to operate until the factory closes at the end of the year and the last remaining jobs are axed.
Bosses are set to enter discussions with agents over the next few months to find a suitable buyer for the building who will make use of the high-spec equipment.
Dunfermline West MSP Scott Barrie will meet local enterprise bosses on Friday to discuss the future of the building.
He said, 'It's a landmark building and it will be a very visible factory when it closes later this year. We wouldn't want to leave it vacant as it doesn't convey the right impression because this area isn't doing that badly economically.
'I will be doing all I can with local organisations to ensure that those people who have been made redundant get back into employment as soon as possible.'
Rosyth West councillor Pat Callaghan lambasted the American firm and described workers who had lost their jobs as 'victims of corporate greed'.
He said, 'My gut reaction was of complete anger and bemusement and immediately my heart went out to the employees.'
He said the jobs blow was the worst to hit West Fife since the miners' strike, but said the council's experience of large-scale job losses would give them a head start.
'We took heavy, heavy blows as pit after pit was shut in Fife but we took it on the chin,' he said. 'As a result, the Fife economy is very diverse and we are more able than other areas in Scotland to get these people re-employed.'
He added, 'It is the ruthlessness that surprises you. There was no prior warning and no indication that Lexmark was in trouble. Lexmark Rosyth is not the problem, the problem is people looking at balance sheets in America.'
Finally, Councillor Callaghan pledged to campaign to bring more jobs back to Rosyth, starting with 'downstream work' for the new aircraft carrier contract at Rosyth Dockyard.
The 700 job losses in Rosyth are part of a worldwide restructuring plan by Lexmark which will see more than 1300 jobs scrapped or transferred to different locations.
Around 300 new posts will be created at the company's headquarters in Kentucky, US, but job losses are expected at other plants as part of the streamlining.
Representatives of trade union Amicus met Lexmark staff before Christmas as part of a recruitment drive after employees' job fears were reported in the Press.
The union's regional organiser, Rab Sherry, said he was 'gutted' for the 700 workers who lost their jobs.
He added, 'Once again it's our friends from over the pond - they come and set up a factory and take the grants and tell them they are here for the duration.
'They are making decisions that affect over 500 families who are now sitting there with their main wage disappearing through the floor.'
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