Freescale announce even more job losses

Nov 26 2008 by Graham Mann, East Kilbride News

MORE jobs are expected to go at Freescale after the US-based company announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 10 per cent.

It’s already known that around 800 jobs will go when the manufacturing plant at Kelvin Industrial Estate closes early next year.

However, up to 27 jobs at the company’s research and development (R&D) section could also face the axe.

Bosses at the semiconductor plant had long insisted that R&D jobs would not be affected but a consultation process began on Wednesday last week which is expected to result in further redundancies.

A spokeswoman for Freescale said: “Following last month’s announcement of global headcount reductions across the company, Freescale has entered into a minimum 30-day consultation with employees.

“The majority of the positions potentially impacted in the UK are in support functions and it is anticipated that any redundancies would take place between February and September 2009.”

This is the latest twist in a long-running saga at the former Motorola plant, which has been one of the town’s biggest employers for around 40 years.

In 2004 the Kelvin factory broke away from the Motorola empire and was renamed Freescale Semiconductor.

Then in May 2006, Freescale announced plans to slash redundancy payments, altering its severance terms and conditions to match those of its competitors.

Employees feared at the time it was the precursor to job losses, but the company strenuously denied this.

In September of the same year the company was taken over by a consortium of investment firms for $17.6 billion dollars.

Freescale’s board of directors unanimously approved the sale to the consortium of four private equity firms led by the powerful Blackstone Group.

In March 2007 a £10 million cash injection by Freescale into Scotland was interpreted as good news for the factory, however, just three months later 100 workers were put on a month’s notice, leading to fears for the East Kilbride plant’s long-term future.

The company refused to comment on rumours that this was just the tip of the iceberg but within weeks they announced plans to cease manufacturing at the site.

Over the following months all attempts to find a buyer failed and in October this year the company finally confirmed the East Kilbride semi-conductor plant would close next year.

Meanwhile, staff are consulting lawyers about the reduced redundancy terms in an effort to have the original agreement reinstated.