ANGRY workers at a closure-hit production plant in Glasgow are taking their battle for bigger redundancy payments to Europe after being told cash bonuses will be halved.
Promat Glasgow is due to save around £250,000 in compensation when almost 100 workers lose their jobs when one of the city's oldest manufacturing bases is axed next summer, union officials claim.
The Belgium-owned company produces fire resistant boards for the construction industry, airports and shopping malls.
The Glasgow factory in Springburn opened in 1892 in Petershill Road and has changed ownership several times over the last 122 years until it was bought by Promat in 2002.
More than 90 workers based at the city site have been told the factory is to close in the summer when production is switched to Belgium.
The two phased closure starts less than a week before Christmas when dozens of staff are dismissed.
A Unite spokesman said: "The company claims the closure of Glasgow will generate annual savings of 5.5million euros.
"The workers are very angry and believe they may have been singled out because the site is unionised.
"Promat has factories in England but workers there don't belong to any union."
Promat's redundancy packages normally includes a bonus worth 60% on top of the final figure, but company chiefs have decided to slash the bonus payments to 30%.
Unite representatives from Glasgow will fly to Brussels on Monday to attend Promat's own European workers council.
The company refuses to divulge how much money will be saved as a result of cutting redundancy terms but it's believed the figure is around £250,000.
Springburn MSP Patricia Ferguson added: "These are not fire brands or people out to cause trouble. They are decent people who have been made to feel unvalued."
Managing director John Stevenson is based at Promat UK's head office in Bracknell, Berkshire. He denied the closure was an anti-union move and said the decision was based on "economics".
gordon.thomson@ eveningtimes.co.uk
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