IN A BODY blow to Forest manufacturing,

Xerox's plant in Mitcheldean is to

close with the loss of 80 jobs.

Manufacturing of photocopier fuser rolls

will be moved to the United States from the

end of June bringing to a close the firm's 60-

year relationship with the town.

The news was broken to workers and

union convenors at two meetings on Monday

(February 1). Since then, union leaders

from UNITE and the GMB, including

Tony Pickthall, chairman of Mitcheldean

Parish Council, have been locked in a series

of talks about timing of the closure

and severance deals.

Forest MP, Mark Harper, expressed his

disappointment at the news.

"This will obviously be a very worrying

time for staff at Mitcheldean. I have already

spoken to the company and am

awaiting further details of the timing of the

consultation and the help which they will

make to anyone who loses their job."

Xerox said a costing exercise had led to

a decision to outsource certain fuser rolls

made at Mitcheldean with production

ceasing on June 30.

"Without fuser roll production the residual

activity at Mitcheldean would no

longer be cost effective to run. We are

therefore proposing the transfer of our

residual business to fuser manufacturing

operations in Webster in the USA.

"The proposed changes would result in

the closure of the Mitcheldean Business

Centre by September 30 with the loss of

around 80 jobs."

Xerox spokesman, Kevin Perlmutter said

a reduced Manufacturing Resource Team

and service delivery centre would be the

only remnants of the company to remain.

Manufacture in Mitcheldean began in

1948 with the production of cinematic

equipment for the Rank Organisation. It

later became the main photocopy manufacturing

plant for Rank Xerox. At its heyday

in the late 1970s there were almost

5,000 workers on a 70 acre site. But since

then the plant has suffered a death by one

savage cut after another. There were cutbacks

in the early 1980s followed by the

loss of around 1,300 jobs in 2001 when

manufacturing was switched to a company

in the Czech Republic.