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                                                                                 Letters and Messages on this Website are not necessarily the opinions of the trade unions 

This is the website where you can get all up to the minute information on all  the issues that affect all Remploy workers

Remploy Shop Stewards held a pay conference for their members last week to help paint the way forward and announce the Remploy Campaign will continue !!

  Link to  Not Sure What Planet he is on

  Link to  Daily Mail Article on Company Cars in Remploy

  Link to  New Labours week of shame

GMB today rejected a claim by Remploy that the dispute with Remploy regarding 30 factory closures was over. The departing Remploy Chief Executive, Bob Warner has recently made a statement in Personnel Today that the bitter dispute with GMB has moved on.  See note 1 below.

Last week 30 factories closed. These were Aintree, Barnsley close/merge, Birkenhead CCU close/merge, Bradford close/merge, Brixton, Brynamman close/merge, Halilfax, Hartlepool, Hillington, Hull, Jarrow close/merge, Leatherhead, Lydney, Mansfield, Medway, Newcastle Staffs close/merge, Pinxton, Plymouth, Redruth close/merge, Southampton B Chandler’s Ford close/merge, Southend, St Helens, Stockport close/merge, Stockton, Treforest, Woolwich close/merge, York, Ystradgynlais close/merge. Unions have been told that the factories at Wisbech and Poole are also to close without the sanction of Ministers.

Phil Davies, GMB National Secretary and Secretary to the Remploy Consortium of Trade Unions states:

“I am not sure what planet Mr Warner is on but GMB and the other trade unions are considering legal action for a large number of individuals.

We have had encouraging opinion from leading Counsel and we believe that consultation regarding these factory closures has never taken place.

We are still campaigning for the reopening of the York factory and are working hard to secure public procurement contracts for the company and we are disappointed at the efforts being made by the company to secure public procurement work.

We do not believe that our dispute with the company is over and we certainly have not stopped our campaign to bring justice for disabled people working in Remploy.

 Mr Warner has totally ignored his commitment given that a new and reduced management structure will be implemented and still have the old regime that brought the company to its knees.”

Ends

Contact: Phil Davies, GMB National Secretary o07850 966465 orJennie Formby, Unite National Secretary 07702 206436 or Les Woodward, Remploy trade union Convenor o07977 436251.         GMB Press Office: Rose Conroy on 07974 251823 or Steve Pryle on 07921 289880 o        T&GWU Press Office: 020 7611 2549.

Notes to Editors:

1. Text from Personnel Today – 3^rd April 2008

Departing Remploy chief executive Bob Warner has insisted the disability employer has moved on from its bitter dispute with trade unions over factory closures.

The GMB union called for changes to Remploy's management team after it confirmed late last year that it would be closing 28 of its 83 factories.

March 26th 2008    NEW LABOURS WEEK OF SHAME

Phil Davies GMB National Officer and Secretary of the Remploy consortium of trades unions said

This has been a week of shame for our Labour Government and it’s utter failure to address and resolve the 14 year old problems surrounding supported employment for disabled workers.

The problems have their root in the Tory decision in 1994 that the age old practice of public procurement being used to supply a steady stream of work to supported employment for disabled workers was not allowed under EU procurement laws. GMB and other unions fought a decade long successful campaign to reverse this EU law. Public procurement is now allowed for this purpose but Ministers and councillors and officials in national and local Government have yet to get back to the position that applied up to 1994.

In spite of an 18 months campaign to get a steady stream of work for the factories the Government backed the plan of a failed management team to run down the network and to put 2,500 disabled workers on the dole. Remploy workers will not forget either the role of

leaders of disabled charities Leonard Cheshire, Radar, Mencap, Mind, RNID and Scope and their zealotry in calling for the factories to be closed in the name of using the money to find mainstream employment for disabled workers. This zealot line was rejected by the 2007 Labour Party Conference who voted to support choice and the use of public procurement to underpin it.

We can not forgive the utter failure of the Labour Government to cut through all the procurement problems and to dismiss the failed management and start again. The waste regarding the cars is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Remploy Trades Unions will continue to campaign to reopen these factories as public procurement starts to generates a steady stream of work. We will move to the courts and tribunals to seek justice for those unfairly selected for redundancy and for unfair dismissal. The political fall out from this week of shame has only just started.”

This co-incides with reports in the press that Remploy managers are spending £8m on 441 company cars – some of them defined as luxury vehicles like a 2.7 litres Mercedes sports car for boss Bob Warner

Ends

Contact: Phil Davies, GMB National Secretary o07850 966465 orJennie Formby, Unite National Secretary 07702 206436 or Les Woodward, Remploy trade union Convenor o07977 436251.         GMB Press Office: Rose Conroy on 07974 251823 or Steve Pryle on 07921 289880 o        T&GWU Press Office: 020 7611 2549.