More than 120 jobs were hanging in the balance at a Shropshire car parts manufacturer. Car Parts firm Shimizu Industry UK revealed plans to close its plant in Hortonwood, Telford, which employs 124 workers, and transfer all its business to a sister site in Welshpool. The parts company, which makes injection-moulded plastic parts for customers such as Honda, Toyota, Land Rover and Jaguar, said “significant” job losses were expected.
A statement from the firm blamed the global economic crisis for the downturn in orders. It said: “The company has entered into a three-month consultation period with its employee representatives. Employees of Shimizu Telford and Welshpool plants have been on short time working since October 2008 in a bid to try and reduce overheads and minimise the risk of redundancies.
“However, significant losses from ongoing reduced
orders can no longer be sustained and major restructuring is necessary
in order for the company to survive.”. Last month, the Welsh arm of the company, which employs
125 people, was one of the first two businesses in Wales to get help
from the Welsh Assembly’s £68 million ProAct scheme.The initiative helps employers deal with a fall off in orders and to provide an alternative to redundancy by offering wage subsidies of up to £2,000, and £2,000 of funding for training for up to 100 workers.
Only yesterday the Government revealed it would be extending the ProAct Scheme to England for a six-month trial from April.
But Mark Pritchard, The Wrekin MP, said: “Ministers should have taken action far earlier which may have saved these jobs. The Government has acted too slowly."
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