Plan to sack disabled ‘barbaric’

MORE than half of factories employing mainly disabled workers are set to close, with the loss of 1,700 jobs in a move attacked as “barbaric”.

The government announced that Remploy was proposing to close 36 of its 54 factories, with potential compulsory redundancies of 1,752 people, including 1,518 disabled employees.

Factories earmarked for closure include those in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Minister for disabled people Maria Miller said the Remploy board planned to close the sites by the end of the year because they were unlikely to achieve independent financial viability.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “This is a barbaric decision. The government has sunk to a new low.”