THE textile industry in Scotland was dealt another severe blow yesterday with the announcement that Delta, an East Kilbride-based sportswear manufacturer, is to pay off 95 of its 160-strong workforce.
The announcement was the fifth jolt to hit the industry in the past week. Altogether 1500 jobs are under threat.
Last night, Mr Harry Donaldson, GMB union Scottish regional industrial officer with responsibilities for the clothing and textile industries, called for Scottish Industry Minister Brian Wilson to consider offering regional assistance to communities which, he claimed, would face devastation if the redundancies were to proceed.
The East Kilbride factory forms the Delta Textiles Football Division and is operated quite separately from the company's other businesses in Scotland.
The East Kilbride operation's managing director, Mr Ray Evans, said the company was left with no alternative given the current trading climate. In a statement, he said: ''Supplying and servicing major sportswear brands with products manufactured within the UK has become increasingly difficult during the past 12 months.
''The strength of the British pound, media pressure concerning prices of football replica garments, and ever-increasing competition from low labour-cost countries have all contributed to the difficulties and the unfortunate situation we face in our business today.''
A Lanarkshire Development Agency spokesman said of the announcement: ''The job losses at Delta are obviously a very serious blow to the local area and would appear to have been caused by pressure currently affecting the textile industry in Scotland.''
Mr Donaldson said: ''We are now facing a major crisis with the potential impact of some 1500 redundancies all announced in the past week. If carried out, they would have a devastating impact on the economic stability and social fabric of several Scottish communities.''
News of the job losses at Delta emerged the day after Cumbernauld clothing manufacturer Edward McBean, which employs 110 workers, called in the receivers after its English parent company, the Manchester-based Hollas Group, went into receivership.
Receiver Price Waterhouse, which held crisis talks with staff and management of the firm yesterday, said it remained hopeful the business could be saved.
Last Thursday, Dawson International said it was facing its worst economic crisis for 30 years, making job losses likely among its 3000 workers in Scotland - 2000 in the Borders.
The Sweater Shop called in the receivers, threatening 73 jobs at its plant in Cumnock, north Ayrshire, and Grampian Brands said it had to lay off 120 workers.
Two of the firms blamed the strong pound for a collapse in the export market, which is also cited as the reason for the demise of the Hollas Group.
Mr Donaldson has urged Scottish Industry Minister Brian Wilson to see what regional assistance can be given for the communities which face redundancies.
A Scottish Office spokesman said last night: ''Obviously, we are disappointed to hear about the loss of jobs. We are very well aware of other losses in the textile industry in Scotland. These have highlighted the extremely competitive international market that companies are operating in.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article