Labour Research October 2007

News

Cynical choice

General union Unite described the decision of TV manufacturer JVC to sack 99 workers at its College Milton site in East Kilbride as “cynical”. If the company had announced 100 or more job losses at the site the consultation period required by law would have been 90 days, during which the workers would have been paid, not the 30 days required for redundancies of between 21 and 99.

The company notified the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform of the job losses at the end of August and a 30-day consultation period started. Regional organiser Derek Urmston said the job losses were disappointing but the union is continuing to press the company to enter into “meaningful dialogue” to secure the long-term viability of the plant.