115 Jobs lost as Dundee print facility to close
Flint Group to close Old Glamis Road facility following consultation
115 jobs are to go at a print facility in Dundee.
Flint Group entered into consultation with staff last month and announced they had to make £3.6 million worth of savings to rescue the facility.
Today the company announced despite efforts by unions and employees to come up with business plans to try and stop the closure they would be shutting the gates on the plant.
David Wood, Flint Group Operations Manager at Dundee, said:
“It was vital for them to understand the severity of the situation and the gap to be filled by any of their recommendations. For a proposal to be seriously considered as robust and resilient to the ongoing market decline, a minimum of £3.6m worth of savings needed to be identified.
“Although a lot of hard work had gone into the proposals presented, they still remained substantially below the required amount to rescue the facility, against the backdrop of an irreversible declining market.”
The company held a meeting to provide final feedback on the proposals to GMB and staff representatives. From the submissions shared for review, the proposed savings would only account for 22% of the required amount to rescue the facility. It has therefore left Flint Group with no other alternative, but to confirm closure of the Dundee site.
Commenting on the final decision, Tony Lord, Vice President and General Manager of Flint Group’s Print Media Europe division said;
“This is a very sad day for all of us, everyone has pulled together over the past few weeks to see if another option could provide a sustainable future for the facility. However, it is an extremely challenging marketplace at present, especially when established national newspaper groups such as the Independent announce a move entirely away from print to online.
“We have stated from the beginning our responsibility to our employees and our promise to ensure this difficult process would not be drawn out unnecessarily, leaving people with uncertainty about their future and potentially providing false hope. Now a decision has been finalised, the consultation process will enter discussions on enhanced redundancy packages, as well as how we can best support our employees, working closely with partners such as Pace to provide career support and re-training opportunities.”