GMB reports Tannoy jobs under threat
Published: WORLD
WORLD: According to one of the UK’s biggest unions, up to 70 skilled jobs at Tannoy are under threat as parent company Music Group has failed to honour its commitment to relocate to a new site in Scotland. GMB Scotland announced that senior managers at Tannoy’s Scottish production site in Coatbridge had been put on ‘gardening leave’ and had their emails blocked while workers have been urged to sign individual redundancy settlements by 13th January, ahead of the plant’s closure in March 2017.
The manufacturer celebrated its 90th anniversary this year, but relocated to Coatbridge in the 1970s. In April 2016, Music Group announced the closure of the Scottish operation stating that it would relocate to China. This was followed by a further announcement in September that the company was considering opening a new plant in Scotland to develop a new line of units, for which Strathclyde Business Park was suggested.
‘Self-styled chief disruptor Uli Behringer is leading his workers and the media up the garden path over his real intentions for Tannoy’s Scottish operations,’ commented GMB Scotland organiser Ude Adigwe. ‘He is stonewalling his employees and instead of addressing their concerns demoralised workers now have to forward questions concerning their futures to an HQ call centre in Manila. With local management having been effectively routed by Behringer, it looks like the Coatbridge plant is simply being run-down ahead of March with no real prospect of a new site.’
Richard Leonard, MSP, Scottish Labour economy spokesman, added: ‘I have repeatedly raised the plight of the Tannoy workers and the case for retaining Tannoy production in Scotland in the Parliament with Ministers and have raised questions again this week with Scottish Enterprise. I am concerned at the way the owner in Manila is dealing with simple requests for information from the GMB trade union on behalf of the workforce in Coatbridge. I am calling today for the Scottish Government to step in. We need to end the uncertainty surrounding the future of these working people’s livelihoods and the manufacture of the Tannoy brand.’