Bosses say factory closure is inevitable

6:01am Saturday 9th December 2006

MANUFACTURER Jeld-Wen last night said the closure of its Darlington plant in the new year was "inevitable", in a move that will cost 140 jobs.

But last night, a dispute broke out between the company and unions, which said neither they nor their members had been told the closure was definite. The unions said that as far as they were concerned, they were still in consultation over the Lingfield Point site's future.

The Northern Echo can reveal that the door and window maker's Darlington factory is to close in mid-February due to "tough market conditions". The situation is understood to have wosened since the loss of one of the factory's major clients.

But although Jeld-Wen said the 140 staff had been informed of the "deeply regrettable" impending closure, workers disagreed, saying they had been told the plant was in trouble but that nothing had yet been decided.

Union representatives hit out at the company over the treatment of its employees, who believed a 90-day consultation was being conducted into the potential rescue of the uPVC site.

Ian MacKenzie, of the GMB union, branded the lack of consultation "disgraceful".

He said: "As far as I was aware, we were 23 days into a 90-day consultation, where nothing definite had been decided.

"There has been no talk about a salvage package, or whether work can be transferred elsewhere.

"This is not consultation - it is terrible. It seems abundantly clear this has been already decided."

Workers told The Northern Echo that while they were aware the site was in trouble and could face closure, they had not been told its fate had already been decided.

One said: "We've all been assuming the factory would close, but we've never been told that it's definite. They've never told us that.

"Although we've been told if the place doesn't reach a certain sales target by February, then it will close, this is completely different. It's all been a bolt from the blue, a real shock - we were gearing up for Christmas and then we're told we might not have a job come the New Year. Now it seems we won't. We've had nothing mentioned about any settlement or redundancy. There are a lot of questions over what is happening here."

Jeld-Wen said it had carried out a feasibility study into moving part of the Darlington operation to its plant in Melton Mowbray, but the study found the move would not be viable.

It said last night it will fulfil all orders for the rest of December and January, ahead of its planned closure the following month.