Remploy staff down tools again in defence of jobs

The government is looking to privatise or close all the remaining Remploy factories - which provide a vital source of employment to people with disabilities - by the end of 2013.

Sporadic action is taking place at factories across Britain but at least 25 of the 54 Remploy sites have already been closed down.

The Chesterfield factory's 60 workers voted by more than 90 per cent to stage strike action.

Workers walked out for five days at the beginning of September and staged a successful march through the town centre where they were cheered on by the public.

Remploy is owned by the Department of Work and Pensions, which has tried to justify the closures on financial grounds, saying the money would be better spent elsewhere.

But unions representing the workforce - GMB, Unite and Prospect - say the factories have been deliberately run down with public-sector procurement procedures failing to support the company.

The unions have also rubbished management claims that laid-off staff will be able to get jobs elsewhere as unemployment tops two million.

The Chesterfield factory manufactures shoes, including specialist footwear it supplies to hospitals for people with foot ailments.

The closures - which threaten the livlihood of 2,800 disabled people - have been widely derided as one of the coalition government's most callous acts, even by its own low standards.

The workers are asking the public to join them on the picket lines.

peterlazenby@peoples-press.com