Did cheap labour seal deal?
THIS is the Polish factory that could make Britain’s post-Brexit blue passports.
It is owned by Gemalto, the Franco-Dutch company in line to be awarded the contract.
A former worker at the plant, in the northern town of Tczew, said they suspect the firm might want to use the facility because Polish wages are up to twothirds lower than in Britain.
It could explain why Gemalto was able to bid £120million less than British firm De La Rue, which currently makes the burgundy UK passports.
In 2010 Gemalto opened a new production line in Tczew producing the electronic technology that goes into modern passports. The firm said the new investment was to meet ‘increasing market demand both in the region and the rest of the world’, including ‘ national printing houses in various countries’.
This suggests part or all of the new British passports could be produced at the Tczew facility – although Home Office sources say the personal information page of passports, containing a picture, name and date of birth, will be printed in the UK.
Speaking to the Daily Mail on condition of anonymity, a former Gemalto employee said office staff and skilled workers earn a gross salary of between £1,032 and £2,064 a month, with those doing manual work on roughly £412 a month net. In January the average Polish monthly minimum wage was £441, compared with £1,232 in the UK.
The source said many of the manual workers had contracts through agencies – and as a result are easier to sack.
A company spokesman had not responded to question from the Mail by last night.