Disabled workers at Ayresome Industries, Middlesbrough, devastated at closure threat

12:21pm Wednesday 24th October 2012 in News By Joanna Morris

DISABLED workers were left in tears after being told their factory could close due to council cuts.

On Monday, Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon announced proposals to close the town’s Ayresome Industries factory as part of plans to save £11m in 2013/14s.

The factory, which produces UPVC goods and employs primarily disabled workers, has operated for at least 70 years.

News that it could soon fold has devastated its workforce, some of whom have worked there for more than 40 years.

Margaret Wotherspoon, campaign manager for the workers’ union Communicate, said: “The factory manager told them the news and some did not understand what was going on. When they did, they burst into tears.

"I think it is disgusting that they are picking on people who, because of their disabilities, won’t be able to get work anywhere else.

"Most of them, if not all of them, will end up on benefits. For the ones that live alone, going to work is the only company they get at any time.

"This is their lives, not just work. It will impact on them really badly. I understand the cuts have got to come from somewhere but they should not come from the most vulnerable, we should be protecting them.”

Tom Blenkinsop, Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, compared the workers’ plight to that of Remploy employees.

He said: “These cuts will have disastrous personal impact on many people in Middlesbrough – none more so than the 220 staff who will go and Ayresome Industries employees who, if the abolishment of Remploy factories is anything to go by, will have a near impossible task of finding a new job.”

Comments(11)

Voice-of-reality says...
2:51pm Wed 24 Oct 12

That they can work in one factory shows that they are 'fit for work'. Time for them to apply their skills in one factory to another - the abolition of their pay will soon motivate them

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Jonn says...
5:33pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Voice-of-reality wrote:
That they can work in one factory shows that they are 'fit for work'. Time for them to apply their skills in one factory to another - the abolition of their pay will soon motivate them
Really? It's hard enough for abled bodied people to find work. If they were honest, the last thing employers want, and it's sad but true, is someone disabled.

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spoorsjone says...
7:27pm Wed 24 Oct 12

What a good natured soul you sound like voice of reality,more like voice of Thatcher.

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Voice-of-reality says...
9:12pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Thank you for that compliment - to be likened to the great lady is a marvellous thing.

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loonyleft says...
11:08am Thu 25 Oct 12

I think you should rename your self to voice of delusion, where still suffering from what she did to the country.

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Voice-of-reality says...
11:58am Thu 25 Oct 12

No, you are wallowing in self-pity and failing to pull yourself together. Numerous parts of the north-east have prospered since the 1980s onwards - it is an increasingly high-tech area with new industry also coming in (Nissan, the trains at Newton Aycliffe etc). As the first industrial nation it was also obvious that Britain should be the first post-coal industrial nation and, though I would accept more retraining opportunities were needed, there was also a need to cut the dead-wood out of the economy so that new industries could prosper. Real failings were for instance the failure of Wilson to embrace TDan Smith's vision of a silicone valley in the north - now there would have been money and prosperity. But rather than look forward and embrace change, the old left would rather just cling onto the past and blame everyone else for their failure to get work. If you (I use that generically not personally) have skills that no one wants - the answer is to retrain - not to expect the economy to go backwards and find you a job

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loonyleft says...
12:33pm Thu 25 Oct 12

rubbish i have no self pity,lord Tebbit recently said it was a mistake to get rid of the coal mines so soon,cut the dead out, so why are other nations providing us with steel,ships,cars, e.t.c,the production of those things dead wood? no what really happened with Thatchers government is it was easier to let those industries die than help them thats why she is still having an effect on this country.

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Eggely says...
1:10pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Guys, Guys..... Why all the looking back? Voice-of-Reality is right. If we are going to do the "One Nation" then we have to get moving....

You are a population of about 130,000.. London could easily take that number and not really notice... It would be possible to put you back to farmland. A few weeks with a bulldozer and quite a few lorries and Middlesbrough would be a folk memory..

Alternatively why not start doing something useful? We need to look outwards into the world...

China creates an economy the size of Greece every three months... Can't we do a bit better?

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loonyleft says...
9:30pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Eggly, you said don't look back, and then you suggest turning the whole region over to farming ! if thats not going backwards i don't know what is.

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Eggely says...
9:37pm Thu 25 Oct 12

loonyleft wrote:
Eggly, you said don't look back, and then you suggest turning the whole region over to farming ! if thats not going backwards i don't know what is.
Well Noted but not in the spirit I meant - if nothing is happening in Middlesbrough then its time to either get things moving or remove it!

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Eggely says...
9:38pm Thu 25 Oct 12

loonyleft wrote:
Eggly, you said don't look back, and then you suggest turning the whole region over to farming ! if thats not going backwards i don't know what is.
Well Noted but not in the spirit I meant - if nothing is happening in Middlesbrough then its time to either get things moving or remove it!

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