Jabil plant threatened with strike
By James O'Brien, Birmingham Post(England), Jan 30, 2003
Four hundred workers at the US-owned Jabil Circuit plant at Coventry which is moving production to Hungary are threatening to go on strike.
Unions at the plant were yesterday preparing to hold a consultative workplace ballot after a show of hands at a mass meeting earlier this week in favour of stopping work.
Jabil, a telecommunications company which bought the plant from Marconi two years ago, has served a 90-day notice of closure.
According to union officials the ballot is expected to reaf-firm the sentiments expressed at the mass meeting.
The unions will then consider the next stage which could be a ballot for strike action.
Since the buyout Jabil has supplied Marconi.
Unions at Jabil - the main one is Amicus - met Coventry MPs last Saturday. Ian Tonks, Amicus regional secretary, said yesterday that the unions were now seeking to find an alternative business plan which would secure employment. "We told our members we should not just accept what the company was saying," said Mr Tonks. "We have been asking for information from them since last August and during that time the company has been less than forthcoming.
"They will find early next week that we shall be asking them for information and they have a duty to supply it under the terms of the Act governing the consultation process.
"It says a company has to consult in a meaningful manner.
"They should not see this as a done deal. Our members are absolutely adamant they can match the quality on offer anywhere else."We shall try to find a way forward but are not sure if it is Jabil or Marconi who are the villains in all this."
Barry Robinson, an Amicus union official at Coventry, said it was important to find out what the business reasons were for doing the work in Hungary.
"The business is not losing money on performance and quality but they are not making enough. It does not equal a company losing money but it is profit- related," said Mr Robinson.
A spokeswoman for Jabil said jobs would "potentially" be lost due to a fall in the demand for telecoms products.
Meanwhile, Marconi has been forced to swallow a £500,000 loss from a dud property deal.
The company, which saw its shares slump in the wake of a series of profit warnings, confirmed it had sustained the loss on the sale of a Buckingham-shire manor house it bought from its former sales manager Charlie Foreman less than a year ago.
The £1.25 million price achieved for the property compares with the £1.75 million the mansion cost Marconi. It means the telecoms group has spent more than £700,000 in 18 months on buying houses from Mr Foreman.
Details of Marconi's loss were contained in documents lodged at the Land Registry.
Prior to signing the contract on his Buckinghamshire house, Mr Foreman sought assurances from Marconi that he would still have a job to go to. He was later made redundant - one of thousands the group laid off - and Marconi agreed to buy the house from him and sell it on. Marconi bought the house in February for £1.75 million, which included the £1.6 million value of the property and also costs Mr Foreman incurred such as stamp duty and moving charges. A spokesman for Marconi said: "The only thing that has changed is that we have now sold the house."
In a previous deal already revealed, the company agreed to buy Mr Foreman's Wandsworth town house in London for £1.7 million in mid-2001, when it asked him to move from the company's office in the capital to work in Coventry.
Marconi subsequently sold the house in January for a reported £1.5 million and Mr Foreman set up home in Buckinghamshire.
Property deals have embarrassed Marconi at a time when it has been trying to tidy up its financial position. The company has been looking to seal a £4 billion debt-to-equity deal that will leave shareholders with just 0.5 per cent of the group...SUPL:
Jabil to cut 380 jobs at UK plant
Claire Serant / EBN (01/24/2003 12:03 PM EST)
Jabil Circuit is planning to cut approximately 380 jobs at its Coventry, England, manufacturing plant, according a spokeswoman at the St. Petersburg, Fla. EMS company. The site, which was formerly owned by British telecom gear maker Marconi plc, provides printed-circuit board assembly, system assembly and repair and warranty services for networking and telecom equipment.
Jabil closed its Liverpool, England, plant -- another former Marconi site -- last year in response to weak demand for telecom products.
Fury as 400 jobs are lost Jan 24 2003
By Colin Lewis
Union fury erupted in Coventry as electronics firm Jabil Circuits announced it was closing its Foleshill factory.
Four hundred people will lose their jobs when work carried out at the New Century Park factory is transferred to Hungary and Scotland.
The bombshell move is a double blow for employees - many had previously been made redundant by Marconi.
Union leaders see it as another serious setback for Coventry's shrinking manufacturing base.
Danny Carrigan, national officer of Amicus, said: "This is a very bleak day for the workforce, many of whom have worked at the factory for over 30 years.
"They are being dumped on the jobs scrapheap."
Regional officer for Amicus Tom Keogh described the decision as "disgraceful."
"We have been on at the company for months to tells us where the investment was going to be made, but they have kept fobbing us off with all the usual excuses.
"In the past 12 months, we have had Marconi, AGCO and now Jabil. This city's manufacturing base is dying - we must do something."
He said a mass meeting of workers was to be held next Tuesday to decide how best to oppose the closure.
" We intend to be constructive in our opposition, but we do intend to involve the local authorities, MPs, MEPs and the Department of Trade and Industry." he said.
Jabil Circuits undertook major sub-contract work for Marconi and took on many of the Coventry workers axed by Marconi as it fought for survival. But like Marconi, it has suffered badly from the continuing slump in demand for telecoms equipment around the world.
At Jabil's head office in Florida, marketing communications manager Lisa Allison said the decision was the result of the continuing slump in worldwide demand for telecom equipment.
'We've been sold down the river' Jan 24 2003
Workers told how they lived on their nerves for weeks as rumours flew around the Foleshill plant.
As the telecoms industry in general, and the Marconi set-up in particular floundered, many openly feared that the writing was on the wall.
Now they have been told the factory will close in late summer or early autumn. They have been told not to report back to work until Monday.
Some have worked there for decades, for GEC and then Marconi.
Carol Green, aged 25, has worked in the company's IT department for more than two years. She said: "To be honest, the news wasn't really much of a surprise to most people. We have been offered a redundancy package but they haven't released any details of it as yet."
Kay Kennedy, aged 41, of Gunton Avenue, Willenhall, Coventry, started work at the company from school 24 years ago.
She said: "There were rumours after Christmas that it was going to close and that was denied. "I have never had another job so this is all new to me and to a lot of us who have worked here for years.
"Everyone is absolutely devastated. There have been tears, sadness and anger here today. There are many people from the same households here - couples, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, who have worked here for years and years."
Kay's partner, Martin McCullough, has worked there for 34 years, said: "We are all absolutely devastated. We were all hoping it wasn't going to happen but now it has happened it's a shock. The last job interview I had was in 1968. It's extremely frightening."
One woman, who asked not to be identified, said: "We have really put ourselves out here. We have been working 12-hour days and have given up our Christmas holidays.
"We were told if we took a cut in our shift allowance pay, it could help safeguard our jobs so we did. For the last three months Jabil has been asking us to get work done for Marconi. We have done everything asked of us, and now this happens.
"We have been sold down the river."
Gerry O'Reilly, of the TGWU, said: "The workers are devastated and feel totally let down. Marconi sold the company to Jabil on the basis that it would remain in Coventry." |
