Last-ditch bid to rescue Remploy

LIFELINE: (l-r) Mike Braddock (OBLG), Steve Bottomley (Remploy commercial manager), Councillor Shoab Akhtar (Deputy Leader of Oldham Council), Patrick Mellor (Remploy factory manager) and MP Michael Meacher

A RESCUE package has been drawn up in an 11th-hour bid to keep Oldham’s Remploy factory alive.

More than 100 jobs face the axe at the Bardsley plant, which could be closed as early as August.

Delegates travelled to London to speak with Maria Miller MP, Minister for Disabled People, about proposals to ensure the site’s survival.

Oldham West and Royton MP Michael Meacher was joined by Deputy Leader of Oldham Council, Shoab Akhtar, two Remploy Oldham employees and a board member of Oldham Business Leadership Group, to talk about plans to save local jobs.

A full business plan to keep Remploy open could be submitted by the end of the month, and a new company in place in time for the proposed closure.

Mr Meacher said: “It is essential that there is a quick decision from the minister.

“I believe the way the closures have been handled is disgraceful with little regard for the workers and their customer base.”

The factory is the largest site facing closure. Mr Meacher says it has an order book of more than £2 million, with healthy prospect of more business.


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