Strike action at Remploy factory

WORKERS at Worksop’s Remploy factory were expected to join a second 24-hour strike in a bid to keep the country’s 54 sites from being closed or sold off by the Government.

The action on Thursday 26th July follow’s last week strike to protest against the proposed closure of the factories which employ disabled workers.

Unite the Union said last week’s strike was ‘massively’ supported by the workforce, members of the public, trade unions and disability organisations, and expected a similarly strong turnout this week.

Unite’s national officer Sally Kosky said: “The Government needs to hear the very loud call that there needs to be a radical change of policy over the future of Remploy factories.”

“The work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith may enjoy being the self-confessed Quiet Man of British politics, but he should be turning up the volume in support of these vulnerable workers - many with disabilities.”

Phil Davies, GMB National Secretary, said: “When the first wave of factory closures happen by the end of the year, we will see about 1,700 disabled workers thrown onto the dole queue, at a time when those out of work for more than two years is at its worst rate since 1997.”

Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller said the Remploy sites were unlikely to achieve independent financial viability, adding the £320m budget for disability employment had been protected.