Workers to protest at factory axe

DEMONSTRATIONS will be held today in protest at the planned closure of Remploy factories.

Disabled workers from the Oldham branch are expected to head to Sheffield to take part in protests targeting the offices of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Protestors will also gather in London to warn of the problems disabled people will face in finding other jobs.

Unions have attacked the announced closure of 36 of the 54 Remploy sites this summer, with more than 100 jobs at the Oldham operation in Ashton Road facing the axe at the end of this year.

In Oldham last year, 443 jobs for disabled and disadvantaged people were found by Remploy.

Gail Cartmail, assistant general secretary of the Unite union, said: “Our members feel outrage that the Government could take jobs from disabled people in this current climate.

“How are they expected to find work when there are 2.6 million people in the queue in front of them?

The closure decision followed a review into the future of Remploy, which concluded that money would be better spent helping disabled people find work in mainstream employment.



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