Fight to save jobs of blind factory staff

TRADE union officials are fighting to save dozens of blind workers from redundancy when their factory closes.

The Stoke-on-Trent City Council branch of Unison has vowed to help workers at the doomed Stoke Workshops project in Fenton to find new jobs before the council shuts the plant next year.

At a recent executive meeting, Unison officials said they feared the closure of the former Workshop for the Blind site was inevitable, despite the city council's assurances that it is still consulting on the proposal.

The workshops were set up to help visually-impaired veterans returning from the First World War, and had been based at the current site in Fenton since the 1930s.

But the factory, which makes wire products and employs 49 staff, made a loss of at least £400,000 last year.

A Unison spokesman said: "The reason put forward for the closure is finance. The projection is that this year there will be an overspend of £400,000.

"A small subsidy has always been provided but there has been an expectation that the workshops are self-funding.

"Information released to the media by the employer suggests that closure is just an option, but the decision has been taken already. There is the potential for up to 49 redundancies by March 31.

"The employer has stated that every effort will be made to redeploy staff but those employed there have been specially referred when all other alternative employment options have failed."

He added: "Remploy has already closed and Stoke Workshops are therefore the only specialist employment facility left for people in the city with disabilities."

The executive has agreed to work with the city's three MPs and other trade unions to negotiate ways of saving some of the jobs at the workshops in the New Year.