New jobs have been secured for staff in Stirling made redundant when the city’s Remploy factory closed, the Scottish Government has announced.
Health Secretary Alex Neil and Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing launched the new Haven PTS factory on Tuesday which will employ 26 people.
It will support public and private customers, including supply of nurses’ uniforms for the Scottish NHS.
The three-year contract from Scotland’s health service is worth up to £1.5 million per annum, and will supply up to 150,000 tunics and 100,000 pairs of trousers for NHS workers across Scotland each year.
However, a major row broke out over the fact a similar scheme, with firefighters’ uniforms instead of nurses’, was proposed for Dundee before the closure of the factories last year.
The decision to operate from Stirling was made by the Rehab Group, which own Haven PTS Ltd, but city-based Labour MSP Jenny Marra accused the SNP of showing favour to the central belt and accused the part of having “bypassed and betrayed the workers in Dundee.”
She said: “I lobbied the Scottish Government to make these contracts available to Remploy in Dundee and I was told by the SNP that it wasn’t possible.
“The high levels of skills and experience at the Dundee factory was second to none.
“The factory was even making police and fire uniforms for the London fire service, but when I asked Shona Robison and Joe FitzPatrick to vote to bring firefighters uniform making to Scotland, they voted against it in Parliament.”
Dundee West MSP Mr FitzPatrick said: “Surely everyone should welcome the fact that a contract to manufacture nurses’ uniforms has now been awarded to a supported employment factory.
“It is disappointing that anyone should seek to try to turn this into a fight between disabled workers in Dundee and disabled workers in Stirling.
“While we had been hopeful that a phoenix company could emerge from the Dundee factory this became impossible with the loss of the contract for military protective clothing which the UK Government placed abroad leading to the closure of the Dundee factory.”
Stirling SNP MSP Bruce Crawford welcomed the opening of the new factory.
He said: “Hopes are high that further contracts can see that number increase, which is great news for the workforce, and I congratulate all involved in working hard to ensure a bright future for this company.”
Marine textile factories at Leven and Cowdenbeath in Fife, where workers manufactured life jackets, were notified of closure last summer alongside frontline textile factories in Dundee, Stirling and Clydebank after UK Government funding was withdrawn.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We continue to work with ex-Remploy workers in Dundee through the Partnership Action for Continued Employment (Pace), and a comprehensive package of support is in place, including the availability of a recruitment incentive of up to £5,000 for employers recruiting ex-Remploy workers.
“As of the end of December, nearly half of the 42 staff who lost their jobs in Dundee have found new work.”
Speaking at yesterday’s launch, Mr Ewing said: “Since April 2012 I have been working very hard to mitigate the effects of the UK Government closure of Remploy factories in Scotland…and I am delighted that our hard work has resulted in Haven PTS Ltd being able to take on 26 members of staff.”