Factory workers with disabilities have decided to take industrial action to protest against job cuts by Remploy - Britain’s leading placement service provider to disabled people.

In a statement issued earlier this year, Remploy hinted at shutting down 36 of its 54 factories - a move which could cost a minimum of 1,700 jobs.

Expressing concern over the planned job cuts, national officer of the GMB Phil Davies said, ”These closures are going ahead without any consideration of the feelings and needs of these workers and their families or their future job prospects. To close a factory that employs disabled people in the present economic climate is a sentence to life of unemployment and poverty.”

Unite members working with Remploy have made it clear that they would go for strike as management and union leaders prepare to hold talks over the dispute on Saturday.

More than 40 disabled staff at Remploy’s Wrexham unit have been living in fear of losing their jobs since March after reports suggested that the plant in North Wales could be a major candidate for closure.

“Unite members at Remploy have taken the tough decision to take industrial action. These workers have been dealt a vicious and callous blow by the UK coalition government”, said Andrea Jones, Unite Wales Officer.

The industrial action is used by Unite members as a last-ditch attempt to wrestle a fair deal out of the longstanding uncertainty over their future, Andrea said, asserting that the labour union will continue fighting for the cause of its members.

Meanwhile, Stansty councillor David Bithell, who is personally trying to prevent closure of the Wrexham plant, refused to make any hasty comment on the planned strike, saying that he “will be speaking to Unite representatives” first.

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