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220 Sussex workers given the sack by video message

4:41pm Wednesday 13th January 2010 in News

Workers at a Sussex-based electronics firm were today left "devastated" after being told in a video message that manufacturing at their factories is to end and 220 jobs moved to Korea and the Czech Republic.

Unite said Edwards planned to cease all manufacturing at its Burgess Hill and Shoreham factories.

The announcement was made to employees via a video message, which the union said was "tactless".

Regional officer Janet Henney said: "This is another example of the UK skilled manufacturing base being decimated for the benefit of a profit-driven private equity company.

"They have paid little regard to the UK economy, our skills base and least of all to those who have to go home today and tell their families of their loss.

"Another blow has been dealt to British manufacturing with this announcement. The time for this abuse of British jobs must end now."

Shaun McHale, senior Unite steward at the Shoreham site, said: "This is a devastating announcement especially given the co-operation that we have given the company over recent years to retain a UK-based skilled workforce."

The news is the latest job purge in Sussex as the recession shows no sign of abating.

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In November, Lloyds axed 400 staff while hundreds more people found themselves out of work when off licence chain Threshers collapsed.

Brighton and Hove City Council is planning to cut 150 positions, the University of Sussex may lose 115 jobs and Sussex Police is also planning to cut back on scores of officers and staff.

Edwards, which has a global workforce of about 2,800, is cutting a total of 219 staff.

As well as Shoreham and Burgess Hill, three jobs are going at its facility in Eastbourne and five from the rest of its UK operations.

Those Shoreham workers remaining at the company will be transferred to a new centre for research and development, which will be built in Sussex at a later date.

Chief executive Nigel Hunton said the decision was made to secure the long-term future of the company.

He said: “We are a technology led business and have learned from the turbulent markets of the past 12 months that we must be closer to our customers, many of whom are in the Far East, and also that we must centralise facilities and expertise.

“This means investing in the UK for our critical high-tech research and development as well as establishing global manufacturing centres in South Korea and the Czech Republic.”

Are you a worker at Edwards? What did you think about the way you were given the news? Let us know in the comments below, or by calling newsdesk on 01273 544 519.

Comments(32)

The Brighton Bear says...
4:44pm Wed 13 Jan 10

Disgusting!

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jaque au lait says...
4:48pm Wed 13 Jan 10

ahhhh the joy of new technology eh.

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another village idiot says...
6:12pm Wed 13 Jan 10

Edwards high vacuum, but low standards. Sacked by video message? Could the CEO be any less considerate? Sounds like the 220 leaving are well rid of him.

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another village idiot says...
6:12pm Wed 13 Jan 10

Edwards high vacuum, but low standards. Sacked by video message? Could the CEO be any less considerate? Sounds like the 220 leaving are well rid of him.

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Mr Lahey says...
6:55pm Wed 13 Jan 10

They'll soon move back when they find out they don't have the quality of labour. May be a cheaper investment in the short term, but in the longer term this business is going down the shoot, as with any business who allow so called 'gunslingers' in to make the decisions.

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Tambourine Man says...
7:15pm Wed 13 Jan 10

UR fired m8.

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Old Dog says...
8:22pm Wed 13 Jan 10

How on earth does this Government (and the previous Tory mess) expect to keep employment at reasonable levels, provide for pensions, and have a tax take big enough to run the country if they keep letting our industry go abroad? Plus of course, if there are no jobs for the millions of people who leave school with no qualifications, how do they expect to pay the ever increasing benefit bill? Makes no sense to me!

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Whitedot says...
9:09pm Wed 13 Jan 10

Cowardly at best.

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Forbes Coleman says...
9:21pm Wed 13 Jan 10

it's a private company. as stated in the story. therefore, they can do what they want. profits might sore, but quality will drop.

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Jolly Rodger says...
9:23pm Wed 13 Jan 10

Terrible news. More real skilled jobs leaving the UK.

Any news on the loss of Argus jobs at Hollingbury now the paper is printed in Portsmouth?

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Nyberg says...
10:22pm Wed 13 Jan 10

And Smash EDO are still doing their best to take jobs away from people who live in Brighton.....
And how popular are they with the ordinary man in the street?

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sussexone says...
10:53pm Wed 13 Jan 10

Yes it is sad that these workers will lose their jobs, but understandable if as they say a lot of their customers are in the far east.

I don't think loyalty comes into it personally, they are workers employed to do a job of work for a salary at a private company.

The company has decided to centralise to save money and ensure it's future, that's life in the global economy,there are NO jobs for life anymore, time the unions learnt that in my opinion!

I myself was once made redundant in similar circumstances however I bore no grudge against the company, I re-trained and got a different job, although it took almost 2 years, it's sad, but just the way the world works now!

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boro_burd says...
12:19am Thu 14 Jan 10

Video link may not be the most pleasant way of finding out that you are going to lose your job but reading it on the Argus website is even worse. As an Edwards employee not privy to the video message on Wednesday morning, due to shift patterns, it's a bitter pill to swallow when you find out about your impending redundancy via the local press.

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tilburyre says...
9:40am Thu 14 Jan 10

Why should quality drop, Forbes Coleman. Most of the electronics equipment most of us own is made in the Far East and is of excellent quality. The unions (and Unite are one of the worest) are the main reason for this sort of job being lost abroad because their demands over the years have led to it becoming much cheaper to manafacture elsewhere.

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Old Ladys Gin says...
11:40am Thu 14 Jan 10

Whitedot wrote:
Cowardly at best.
No, just the way things are done these days, but cowardly none the less...

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tonyinbrighton says...
12:08pm Thu 14 Jan 10

I've been made redundant 3 times. Not pleasanr but as others have said it's the way of the world.....

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Claude Back says...
12:12pm Thu 14 Jan 10

Forbes Coleman wrote:
it's a private company. as stated in the story. therefore, they can do what they want. profits might sore, but quality will drop.
SOAR point? ;-)

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Voter99 says...
3:09pm Thu 14 Jan 10

Mark my words - things are going to get much worse before they get better.

The next emergency budget after the election will be destroy people and jobs.

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D Merrett says...
4:49pm Thu 14 Jan 10

I am sorry for the workers and this situation but looking deeper some of the comments aired about this article sum up the British problem. Stop thinking the rest of the world cannot do it as well as we can. Being Brit (which I am by the way) is not some sort of licence to think we do it better. The fact is we often do it worst or about the same, and training can give other people the same or better skills. More flexibility and same skill set gives other countries considerable advantages, and if you stir in the usual Brit negative approach to change then you know why!!!

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Gentleman Jim says...
6:09pm Thu 14 Jan 10

It must be accepted that if they dont transfer the work abroad to reduce costs their products will not be competative and will lead to a shut down of the company.
Very upsetting for the staff but a situation that regretfully is not uncommon.
Unions must remember if costs are too high in this country,companies have a choice.

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another village idiot says...
6:36pm Thu 14 Jan 10

Those people who think that we have to adapt and lower our costs are sadly deluded. Skilled workers at this and other companies supplying them do not earn vast sums of money! It's about enough to live on without handouts from the Government. Who will pay the taxes to dig Britain out of the mire? We will become a country of very rich bankers, and very poor ex workers. At that point I wouldn't feel very secure being rich.

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fabemployer says...
12:19am Fri 15 Jan 10

OK from a long suffering worker. The company do also trade with the states through Intel but Intel do not want goods made in Korea. The workforce in Korea and Czech are really struggling to make the products they have already. The components coming from various new foreign sources are extremely poor quality and failures are very high. The knock on effect to other local and uk business id very high.
This is a racket that has already destroyed many temporary staff that were kept as temps for years and then had huge pay cuts then sacked. So many promises have been made then broken. Someone should look at who is gaining where and how.

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MACKDADDY says...
12:50pm Fri 15 Jan 10

"temporary staff that were kept as temps for years and then had huge pay cuts then sacked". Hello temporary staff are temporary. the quality is an issue but we have extremely poor quality parts supplied from the UK. if you have a look at our supplier returns this has gone down over the last year due to the low cost sourcing projects

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another village idiot says...
1:10pm Fri 15 Jan 10

fabemployer wrote:
OK from a long suffering worker. The company do also trade with the states through Intel but Intel do not want goods made in Korea. The workforce in Korea and Czech are really struggling to make the products they have already. The components coming from various new foreign sources are extremely poor quality and failures are very high. The knock on effect to other local and uk business id very high. This is a racket that has already destroyed many temporary staff that were kept as temps for years and then had huge pay cuts then sacked. So many promises have been made then broken. Someone should look at who is gaining where and how.
Fabemployer - I agree with you completely. Well said. The CEO is gaining, some of the board, none of the workers. 15 years ago there would have been a strike, no one has the appetite for it now. I've heard that some of the permanent employees are actually having to train the Koreans who will be taking their jobs! Charming..! Strike - withold labour, stop training them, how else are they going to learn!

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Jolly Rodger says...
1:19pm Fri 15 Jan 10

If you strike you may well loose any redundancy.

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another village idiot says...
1:23pm Fri 15 Jan 10

Jolly Rodger wrote:
If you strike you may well loose any redundancy.
Someone has to stop the rot. If you lose your redundancy it's not a life changing amount of money anyway, it will keep a family going for a year (typical payout), industrial action may well keep some jobs going longer than that. People are being treated very badly here.

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MACKDADDY says...
2:58pm Fri 15 Jan 10

just hope the union dose not make a bad situation worse for everyone.

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another village idiot says...
3:03pm Fri 15 Jan 10

MACKDADDY wrote:
just hope the union dose not make a bad situation worse for everyone.
Hard to see what they've got to lose. 220 Jobs in engineering is going to knock a hole in the local economy, subcontractors, caterers, shops in Shoreham, pubs in Shoreham. If all the jobs are going how could it be worse?

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Bennn says...
3:33pm Fri 15 Jan 10

sussexone wrote:
Yes it is sad that these workers will lose their jobs, but understandable if as they say a lot of their customers are in the far east. I don't think loyalty comes into it personally, they are workers employed to do a job of work for a salary at a private company. The company has decided to centralise to save money and ensure it's future, that's life in the global economy,there are NO jobs for life anymore, time the unions learnt that in my opinion! I myself was once made redundant in similar circumstances however I bore no grudge against the company, I re-trained and got a different job, although it took almost 2 years, it's sad, but just the way the world works now!
You're the sad one mate. Who decided that was the way the world works now?? A couple of fat cats getting all the money while the ones who actually make things get peanuts. As another village idiot rightly said nobody has the appetite for a strike in Britain anymore. The French wouldn't have accepted this. They would all be on strike now and the whole town would be behind them. Have the British people actually forgotten that we are the power? Problem is everybody has been brainwashed in this country and we only seem to care about ourselves.

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Gaz the great says...
5:31pm Fri 15 Jan 10

This country has become over, the last few years, very expensive to produce goods in. Wages, Gas, Diesel, Electric & buisness rates are higher than many other comparable European countries, let alone the far-east, therefore we can no longer complete. I can see this situation becoming an everyday occurence until everybody is employed by the goverment, which is were we are going at this time. At least there is always jobs for refuse snoops, traffic wardens, climate change workers (whatever that may be), ect, so don't give up hope just yet!

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fabemployer says...
8:38am Sat 16 Jan 10

The Koreans have not been trained in every area yet and our orders for items made in this country is very high, so we do have a bit of clout. The demand being so high could be a syock up tp prevent any action.
The govermeny should look into what Korean based companies have given as incentives and to who.

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fabemployer says...
8:38am Sat 16 Jan 10

The Koreans have not been trained in every area yet and our orders for items made in this country is very high, so we do have a bit of clout. The demand being so high could be a syock up tp prevent any action.
The govermeny should look into what Korean based companies have given as incentives and to who.

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