THE Unite trade union has launched a campaign to save around 100 jobs in Falkirk that paving and concrete specialist Marshalls plans to shed as the fallout from the coronavirus takes a toll on the building sector.
Unite noted that Marshalls had announced plans to cut 95 jobs at its Falkirk site under a scheme to move production to other sites in the UK that it said would have a major impact on the economy in the Falkirk area.
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This comes as suppliers of products used in construction grapple with the slump in activity that followed the imposition of coronavirus lockdown measures.
However, describing the decision as “needless and premature” Unite said it had identified a range of cost-saving measures that could improve the viability of the Falkirk site.
The union noted the Falkirk workforce is currently furloughed under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Yorkshire-based Marshalls said it had started consultations with employees about proposals for job cuts that it described as a “last resort” move to underpin the viability of the business.
“This is all about the longer-term viability of the business and we know that against projected demand levels the organisation has more capacity than it can afford to carry,” said a spokesperson for Marshalls.
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“ We have already exhausted many activities to reduce our outgoings (including voluntary reductions of executive, board and senior management pay as well as cancelling the dividend payment to our shareholders) so the proposals for redundancies are a last resort option to re-shape the cost base of the business.”
The company did not provide any details of the proposals that it said are out for consultation with its two partner Unions, GMB and Unite as well as the elected employee representatives in other parts of the business.
Last month Marshalls said it had shut down its operations in Scotland on April 3 to comply with Scottish law and was not taking any new orders for delivery in Scotland.
The company noted then it had put some employees on furlough.
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