Receivers at Ferranti axe 630 workers
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.RECEIVERS to Ferranti International, called in nine days ago after GEC withdrew a 1p-a-share bid, have made 630 of the company's 3,050 UK workforce redundant, writes Terence Wilkinson.
Most of the redundancies are at Ferranti's main office and factory sites at Oldham, Wythenshawe, Stockport and Poynton in Greater Manchester. More than 120 jobs will also be lost at the company's sites at Aldershot and Portsmouth.
John Talbot and Murdoch McKillop of Arthur Andersen, joint administrative receivers, said that more than 75 per cent of the job losses were planned by Ferranti's management before GEC's withdrawal pushed the company into insolvency.
But at the time Ferranti could not afford the cost of carrying out the redundancy programme and payments in lieu of notice.
In a letter to Ferranti workers, the receivers said the redundancies would be implemented today.
The letter adds: 'Whether further redundancies will be required will depend on the level of support received from our customers.
'We cannot continue work on loss-making contracts. In such cases, if terms cannot be re-negotiated or there is some other reason why work cannot continue, this will have an impact on future headcount levels.'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments