Seddon sacks 200
Page 6
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SEDDON ATKINSON is moving another step closer to becoming a vehicle assembler rather than a manufacturer, with the announcement of the impending closure of most of its component manufacturing and the loss of up to 213 jobs at its Oldham factory.
This is the latEst stage of Seddon's "programme for viability", and it could make it an easier company for International Harvester, its troubled United States parent company, to sell. There is still no word of when or whether the company will be sold, or to whom.
In a statement issued by Gerry Woodhead, Seddon's recently appointed British managing director, the company gave 90 days formal notice of its intention of making up to 213 of its 875 workers redundant, largely as a result of the closure of its component work. Three years ago, 1,800 were employed by the company at factories in Oldham and Walton le Dale.
The Oldham machine shop, .fabrication and sheet metal shops are being closed completely, and sheet metal and bracketry will in future be bought from outside suppliers.
The axle assembly department, which matches Hungarian Raba casings to IH gearing imported from the USA, will be kept open along with a small fabrication facility allied to it.
The components division used to make the old Seddon group axle which was fitted to such models as the original 400Series. It also made assorted pipes, brackets and heat shields for petroleum regulation vehicles.
The company's apprentice training school is being closed, but Seddon will continue to recruit apprentices in accordance with its needs, and will give them shop floor training. At present, they undertake project work in the school for around one year of their apprenticeship.
An in-house garage will lose its responsibility for maintaining company cars, but internal transport and fork lift trucks will continue to be maintained there. Some staff jobs will also disappear.
Mr Woodhead commented that the decision to declare more redundancies had not been taken lightly, but added: "By sourcing more parts from other vendors . . it enables the company to obtain maximum advantage from developments in manufacturing methods and materials which a specialist supplier can finance because of the volume of production."
He added that there are no plans for further redundancies, provided the company returns to viability.
There has been no significant industrial action at Seddon for around five years, and Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers divisional organiser Andy Matson was more critical of the Conservative Government than he was of the company last week.
"It will have a disastrous effect on employment in the area. I particularly blame the redundan cies on the lack of any Government intervention, whether by import controls or type approval of foreign vehicles," he said.
"There is a reluctance on the part of the Conservative Government to give industry an even chance. It would seem that foreign governments are more interested in looking after their truck manufacturers and through imposing restrictions on type approval they are making it difficult for British products," he added.
The workforce view this week was that "someone" is interested in buying Seddon from IH, but wants it slimmed down before it takes over so that it does not appear to be asset stripping.