Bausch & Lomb staff to lose jobs on Christmas Eve as closure confirmed

Published on Tuesday 15 December 2009 08:36

FORTY-FIVE workers at Livingston contact lens manufacturer Bausch & Lomb will be made redundant on Christmas Eve after the company confirmed the plant is to close.

The rest of the 500 jobs at the factory will disappear over the next 18 months as production is transferred to Ireland and the US.

Bausch & Lomb, which took over the Livingston plant in 1996, announced the planned closure in September and the formal 90-day consultation period closed yesterday.

Livingston SNP MSP Angela Constance said she was disappointed the company was pressing ahead with the shutdown.

She called on the company and the Scottish Government to continue a dialogue so that no stone was left unturned in the attempt to save jobs and mitigate the effects of the closure on the West Lothian economy.

She said: "Unemployment just now in West Lothian is higher than both the Scottish and UK averages, which was not the case up until recently.

"West Lothian has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Scotland."

Ms Constance is also hoping to secure a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the closure early in the new year.

She has tabled a motion praising the "highly successful and award-winning" plant in Livingston and applauding the "productive, skilled and committed workforce".

She said: "What has happened to Bausch & Lomb should serve as a painful lesson in terms of what we need to be doing to keep companies and jobs in Scotland.

"There were a number of issues about why Bausch & Lomb chose to close Livingston as opposed to Ireland – it costs more to close a site in Ireland, it costs more to make people redundant and they also have lower corporation tax."

A spokeswoman for Bausch & Lomb said: "The company is confirming its plans to withdraw from production at Livingston."

She said other options had been looked at, but none had proved viable.

"At the end of the day, the company needs only two manufacturing outlets rather than three. Having looked at all the variables, it was agreed the two plants that will remain will be Waterford in Ireland and Rochester, New York."

The next round of redundancies are expected at the end of July next year.

She said the company was still looking at other options for some presence in Scotland. "We are still talking to the government and Scottish Enterprise about that."

She said the workforce would receive enhanced redundancy packages, significantly above statutory payment levels.

"The company is actively supporting its 500-strong workforce with a range of training programmes. A job shop and advisory centre have been set up on site, supported by government agency PACE."

A Scottish Government spokesman said it had engaged extensively with the company to try to find an alternative proposal that protected employment, but that had not proved possible.

He said: "The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have also continued to explore other potential business ventures for the site."