Three weeks to find plan to halt Michelin closure
The Scottish Government has been given until the end of the month to come up with a solution to save the Michelin tyre plant in Dundee, which is earmarked for closure with the loss of around 850 jobs.
Economy Secretary Derek Mackay said he had asked Scottish Enterprise chief executive Steve Dunlop to work on a “repurposing proposition”, looking at different options for the plant.
Mr Mackay said: “I will be pulling together the best expertise, to put the best possible proposition to Michelin.
“They, whilst not wanting to revisit the decision, are at least giving me a hearing in about three weeks’ time so I can put that offer to them.”
Mr Mackay travelled to Paris to hold talks with senior figures from the French-based firm at the weekend, after learning of the proposal to shut the Dundee site in the next two years.
He called on the UK govenrment to commit additional funding to the Tay Cities deal, which brings together the governments in Edinburgh and London, along with the local council and others, to try to boost the local economy.
Locals yesterday told The Scotsman they were not optimistic that any kind of rescue plan would be successful.
Lynne Macdougall, who was collecting her son, a contractor, from a job he was carrying out at the factory and who has other family members in permanent employment at the site, said: “I think it’s just all talk. I can’t see a rescue plan working.
“It will be devastating for the local economy, the shops and the local businesses. If people aren’t earning, they aren’t spending.
“There are no other factories in Dundee to employ people, this was one of the last.”
Charlene Smith, from nearby Whitfield, said her sisterin-law works in the nearby Michelin Athletic Club, run
0 Workers at the Michelin factory in Dundee have been told the factory will close in 2020, with 850 jobs going
by the factory. Staff there have also been told they are to lose their jobs. Workers were informed of the closure in a brief meeting on Tuesday morning.
She said: “It will be a huge
loss. It is ridiculous how the workers have been treated when you think about the number of livelihoods at risk.”
The UK government has announced £150 million of cash for the Tay Cities Deal,
with Holyrood ministers pledging £200m.
Michelin confirmed earlier this week that the Dundee plant, which opened in 1972, is due to cease operations by mid-2020. The company
said the market for premium smaller tyres such as those produced at the Tayside factory has dropped significantly due to an increase in cheap imports from Asia and a shift to larger car tyres.