AS an employee at Xerox, Mitcheldean, it is with a mixture of anger and sadness I write this letter following the grim news of Tuesday, October 2, 2001. Management and union representatives have worked tirelessly for many months this year trying to keep existing work and secure a future for Mitcheldean. Employees on the factory floor have also worked alongside management, for example in some areas where output in production was increased by 15 per cent to cut costs.
It had already been announced there were to be a few hundred job losses at Christmas, and rumours of more to follow.
But did any of us think the news would be so drastic, up to 1,300 job losses, I know I didn't.
Mitcheldean has won many awards, some from Xerox, some not, for its many achievements. Yet for all of the plants' success, this means nothing to a corporation intent on restructuring its business to cut costs. Quarterly presentations all employees received on the company's financial performance seem to suggest that up until fairly recently the corporation was financially in a very good position, and Mitcheldean was a contributor to that.
Even though there has been a general worldwide downturn in manufacturing you have to wonder how things have gone so wrong for the corporation so quickly. Top management in Amercia must surely shoulder some of the blame in not having reacted to problems within their business quicker. Perhaps such drastic action may then have been avoidable.
Corporations and multi nationals may create many jobs, some holding an area's economy together. But they then have a responsibility in what they create, even when times are hard. Loyalty is expected from their employees, but it seems big business cannot be loyal to their employees when the tables are turned.
These are not just statistics, but work colleagues, and friends. People who like most of us have families to provide for, plus all that goes with it, mortgages, council tax etc. The knock-on effect to the local economy will be so hard the chances of finding employment elsewhere is going to be very difficult. Many small local businesses deal with Xerox, and of course local shops and leisure facilities benefit from the income Xerox generates.
The European manufacturing manager I saw on a local news report who tried to play the situation down by explaining there would still be some Xerox presence in Mitcheldean, and this wasn't the end of the road, was obviously talking out of the wrong end. It is these kind of corporation bosses that made the decision at Mitcheldean. – Name and address supplied.