Remploy workers take to picket lines

The strikes are due to last a week.

The government announced in July that it will shut 27 Remploy factories and dump 1,700 staff on the scrapheap. Nine factories could be sold off but their future is uncertain.

The mood on the picket line at Chesterfield was buoyant. Nearly all the factory's 60 workers were out.

GMB shop steward Kevin Shand said: "When we voted for a strike it was 93 per cent in favour.

"The mood on the picket line is very good.

"We've had collections in the town centre and thousands of people have signed our petition.

"We've been outside shops in the town centre with our banner and people have been coming up to us to sign the petition and make donations to our strike fund."

He said that the future of the factory was uncertain. It may be flogged off to a private firm, with the jobs transferred over, but GMB fears workers' pay and conditions will threatened.

"Chesterfield and Springburn factories are the only two who do not know our future," said Mr Shand, who has worked at Chesterfield for four and a half years.

"We are making the point that we do not trust the company. They have lied to us throughout."

The Chesterfield factory makes shoes, including special ones it supplies to hospitals for people with foot ailments.

Remploy factories were established after the second world war to provide jobs for service people with disabling injuries.

Today the factories continue to be a vital source of employment for people with disabilities, including service people injured in more recent conflicts.

The closures are some of the government's most callous acts, even by its own low standards, and the workers are asking the public to join them on the picket lines.

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