By Suzanna Kerridge, 10 April 2001 18:35
NEWS The news marks the latest stage in the company's crumbling fortunes - it recently announced 4,000 worldwide job losses bringing total redundancies to 22,000. According to the Edinburgh Evening News, the Bathgate facility is the area's biggest employer and the closure is likely to devastate the local economy. A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive told silicon.com that talks were ongoing at the highest levels with the US company's senior management. "We are using every means possible to fight for the jobs in Scotland," she said. Motorola is one of Scotland's largest industrial employers, boasting three plants employing nearly 7,000 people. Bathgate is the company's main handset manufacturing plant, making phones for the company's EMEA operations. Motorola's South Queensferry facility currently makes chips for mobile phones. It also recently bought the former Hyundai factory near Dunfermline with the aim of also making semiconductors. Scottish employment unions have called on the Scottish Executive to hold emergency talks to devise a recovery package. A Motorola spokesman said the reports were pure speculation. At the beginning of March the company announced it was stopping production of handsets for three weeks blaming disappointing sales. The company said it was forcing shop workers to take holiday between 9-20 April. The Scottish Executive is predicting a decision on the plant in the next few days.
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