‘Scandalous’ - Havelock workers’ anger at closure decision

Instead, he, and the majority of his colleagues, have been left without a job after the Kirkcaldy shop-fitting company entered administration and made 247 staff redundant.

He described the decision as ‘scandalous’ and said staff were ‘gutted’ and had been not informed of the move until after it had appeared in a national newspaper.

And the GMB Scotland union claimed there is no good reason for the factory to close.

GMB Scotland Organiser Allison Cairns said: “The anger of workers at today’s announcement from Havelock is entirely justified.

“There are serious questions to be answered as to how the company was allowed to get to this point without the workforce being warned or consulted.

“The fact that redundancies were pre-briefed as an “exclusive” to a national newspaper before the workforce were informed is a disgrace and a grave error by the administrator, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

“The plain fact is that this factory does not need to close. There is a quality product here for a buyer willing to make this business work.

“The consequences if a suitable buyer cannot be found will be simply dire for Fife, for what remains of Scottish manufacturing and worst of all for the 250 people employed here, some of whom will have worked here for a lifetime, all of who are now faced with being left with nothing.

“GMB Scotland will do everything in our power to support and assist our members at this time.”