BlindCraft staff vow to fight on as city set to back closure

Workers at the Craigmillar bed-manufacturing workshop - half of whom are blind or disabled - were told yesterday that next week's full council meeting will be asked to approve its closure in a bid to save 700,000.

Fraser Queen, 44, who has worked at BlindCraft for 23 years, said if the factory did close down, many of the 70-strong workforce would never work again and faced a "scary" future.

Mr Queen, from Whitburn, West Lothian, is registered blind and says BlindCraft has been a major part of his life.

"I started just as a raw laddie," he said. "I was let down by the education system because of the problems with my sight. I basically didn't go to school for the last two years because of the problems I had.

"I was then unemployed for about four years until I met up with the Disability Registration Officer at Bathgate Job Centre, who sent me on a three-month assessment in Fife and then I got the job in BlindCraft.

"I had been for plenty of interviews before, but as soon as they find out you're visually impaired that's it. We're one of the hardest groups to employ."

He said he had been apprehensive at first. "You are going into a new environment and you don't know what to expect. But the people here are absolutely great. It's one big family. They welcome you in and help you progress."

Mr Queen, who has been the factory's health and safety co-ordinator for the past two years, said he and his fellow workers were devastated at the planned closure, adding that the prospect of life without BlindCraft was "scary". He said: "A lot of disabled people who work here would not work again. They would not have a cat in hell's chance of future employment.

"The council has put in the token gesture of redeployment, but we saw that in 2004 when we lost about 50 staff and only one person was redeployed - and that was when the council had money."

Mr Queen vowed: "We will fight on. We will fight to save BlindCraft, not just for us but for future generations.

"They have to have some start in life. There is nothing out there just now for them."

Lothians Labour MSP George Foulkes said there was a "cruel irony" in the timing of the planned closure.

He said: "We keep hearing from the Government how terrible it is that people are on disability allowance and they should go to work.Here we have people severely disabled who are working and now, because of the cutbacks, they are going to be thrown out of a job.

"Everything possible must be done to keep BlindCraft open."

Community, the trade union with the most members at the factory, has proposed a three-day week in order to stave off closure and buy time to find a long-term solution.

Official Steve McCool said that if the short-time working began in January, it could even save the council more than the 700,000 it was looking for.

The council said the current level of subsidy was "unaffordable".