British firm moves manufacture of parts to India

Wednesday, 15 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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LONDON: Several jobs in a British engineering firm are expected to be scrapped following the company's decision to transfer the manufacture of electro-mechanical products to Tamil Nadu in southern India. Local community leaders in Stafford, where the firm is based, are expected to meet company officials to discuss up to 220 job losses involved. The company is the French-owned firm Areva Transmission and Distribution, which announced that a number of jobs were at risk as part of a restructuring programme. The jobs are likely to be phased out before the end of next year and the company has pledged to provide training packages and seek voluntary redundancies or transfers for workers where possible. Areva T&D currently employs about 1,600 people in Stafford, after buying out troubled Alstom in January. It says the job losses are part of industrial reviews in Britain, Germany and France. The bulk of the job losses at Stafford are in automation and information systems, where 190 jobs will be shed. Areva plans to transfer its manufacture of electro-mechanical products from Stafford to Pallavaram in Tamil Nadu. Work on components will also be outsourced to try to make further savings. The company proposes to transfer high-volume printed circuit board production to a country with low labour costs, but low-volume printed circuit boards could be transferred to a British manufacturer that could reduce job cuts. Mick Stevens, regional officer for union Amicus, said: "This is a terrible time of year for workers to receive this news. "We understand there will be a winding down of mechanical work until the end of 2005, but the devil is in the detail and we will now go into consultation hearings to see what jobs can be saved, if any, and equally ensuring the package available to those leaving so that they go with the best possible guard against hardship." Stephen Burgin, president of Areva UK, said transferring printed circuit board production outside the company would mean it was working with people making millions, not thousands, of components, which could give it leverage in the market.
Source: IANS
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