Uk Reman Toner Co. Deal falls, Disabled Workers Loose Jobs

Date: Tuesday December 4, 2012 09:31:04 am

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Uk Reman Toner Co. Deal falls Through, Disabled Workers Loose Jobs
 DISABLED employees at Bridgend’s Remploy factory face a grim Christmas knowing that all of them will now lose their jobs in the new year. 
 
The 47-strong workforce at the doomed plant had been hopeful that some workers would be saved by a takeover bid from ink cartridge recycling firm Green Office Co-op. 
 
Staff at the Waterton Industrial Estate factory, who estimated around 20 jobs could have been saved by the rescue deal, said they were told less than a month ago that a sale was nearing completion. 
 
But their hopes have now been dashed as Remploy confirmed on Friday the deal had fallen through. 
 
The Gazette understands a provisional date for the factory’s closure has now been set for January 11, when its 67-year history will come to an end. 
 
The news comes as a devastating blow to the operation’s predominantly disabled workforce, some of whom have spent their whole careers on the Remploy production line. 
 
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Mike Ahearn, an employee of 14 years. 
 
“A lot of people will just be put on the scrap heap. 
 
“It’s sad but lots of people have learning difficulties and who is going to employ them in this climate?” 
 
Colleagues said many of the plant’s disabled staff now face a lifetime of unemployment. 
 
“Where are we going to go from here?” said cerebral palsy sufferer Anthony Roche, 39, who has worked at the Waterton factory for 23 years. “Many of the people who work here are vulnerable and once they are gone from here where do their futures lie? 
 
“My outlook is not good. I am physically disabled. 
 
“We are being offered help to find other jobs but the jobs just aren’t out there.” 
 
Fellow employee Helen Doyle, 48, of Phillip Avenue, Bridgend, said some of the more vulnerable employees still did not fully understand what was happening to them. 
 
“We have tried to explain people are going to lose their jobs but some simply don’t understand they are facing redundancy,” she said. 
 
“One of the boys on the shop floor came to me and said ‘do you think we will still have our Christmas dinner next year?’ 
 
“We have got people who have only ever worked here in their lives. 
 
“I would say there is going to be a high percentage of people here that will never work again.” 
 
Green Office Co-op, a Gloucestershire-based ink and toner cartridge recycling firm, first expressed an interest in taking over the Bridgend factory in August. 
 
Staff welcomed the news, hoping at least some jobs would be saved at a time when other Remploy factories around the UK were closing after a central government funding cut in March. 
 
After lengthy negotiations between Remploy and Green Office Co-op, undertaken under the shroud of a confidentiality agreement, Green Office bosses visited the Bridgend factory at the start of November and told staff the deal was nearing completion. 
 
But a week later they were told it had collapsed. 
 
Green Office said there were a number of insurmountable hurdles blocking the purchase, including redundancy payments. 
 
A spokesman said they were unable to indemnify themselves against future redundancies and may have liable to pay as much as £330,000 in payoffs under the terms of the deal. 
 
But employee Ms Doyle said the months of uncertainty and the hope of a reprieve has made the closure news all the more crushing for staff. 
 
“This has been going on since August,” she said. 
 
“When we were told that someone had put in for the factory, we had a bit of hope and now three months down the line we’re told it’s closing. 
 
“All hope has now gone.” 
 
Mr Roche, of Bridgend Road, Maesteg, added: “This whole process could have been handled better. 
 
“For six months, we have been uncertain, not knowing whether we would have a job or not. 
 
“We all know Remploy had to change but they have just steam-rollered ahead and made us all compulsorily redundant.” 
 
Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon, who has fought in Westminster to help save the factory, said it is “grim” news. 
 
She said: “I am saddened to hear that redundancy notices are to be served. I have been in discussion with employers about possible future opportunities for this hard working staff group.” 
 
Employees were due to have redundancy consultations with Remploy bosses this week, but some stand to end up thousands of pounds worse off than colleagues who took voluntary redundancy last year. 
 
Ms Doyle, an employee of seven years, said she would lose £13,000 compared to the payoff she would have been entitled to had she left voluntarily last year. 
 
A Remploy spokesman said: “We are very disappointed that the factory now has to close. 
 
“Remploy and Green Co-op had worked very hard together to reach an agreement on a sale. Disabled employees leaving Remploy will have access to a package of support for 18 months to help them find another job.” 
 
Chris Probyn, a spokesman for Green Office Co-op, said: “Remploy worked really hard with us but we were unable to make it happen. 
 
“We are very disappointed and we feel for the staff.” 
 
The firm added that they are hoping to set up a factory in an alternative location in Bridgend as early as January and will prioritise ex-Remploy employees for jobs should they be successful. 
 
They hope to takeover Remploy’s contracts with Ford and Harmann Speakers and are to hold talks with the Welsh Government, Bridgend Council and other authorities about providing a market for their remanufactured ink toners and cartridges. 
 
Mr Ahearn said: “This might be something, and it would be good if any Remploy employees could be re-employed.” 
 
 
The Green Office Co-op Limited 
111 Piccadilly, Manchester, GL52 5GG, South West England 
Co-operative 
Type: Worker Co-operative - 
Registration no: 07400698 
 
We are involved in the setting up of production facilities and providing training for the remanufacture of ink and toner cartridges within the prison system. This will provide employment and a sustainable skill for inmates and reduce re-offending and provide them with an income as well as delivering significant cost savings to Government departments who will purchase the manufactured goods. 
Contact Details 
Phone: 07804 326653 
Email: service@thegreenoffice.coop 
Website: http://www.thegreenoffice.coop 
 
The Green Office Co-op is committed to working within the secure estate to facilitate manufacturing operations which usefully employ inmates and also help contribute toward the overall resettlement agenda. 
 
The Green Office Co-op is leveraging from successfully executed programs with several US State’s Departments of Corrections to provide Triple Bottom Line benefits to the UK communities which it serves – Social, Economic and Environmental. We are currently in negotiation with a leading NGO and the UK Ministry of Justice to begin a program by the Spring of 2011. 
 
Sustainable remanufactured printer cartridges have become the ideal vehicle to train inmates on both the development of a work ethic and a set of usable job skills, and to safely and successfully implement a manufacturing process that meets all of the safety requirements within prisons. Further, the cartridges are then sold to local and central government agencies at a substantial cost savings (typically 20%) to them and a reasonable profit to the offender management program. 
 
This closed loop eco-system of production and sales within public sector organisations is what enables us to deliver true Triple Bottom Line benefits:
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December 4, 2012 at 9:31 AM

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