Disabled workers in strike ballot

Almost 40 disabled people will be forced to relocate after it was revealed the Barnsley Remploy factory is closing and production being moved to Sheffield.

Remploy stunned union officials earlier this year when it announced plans to close 43 sites under moves to transfer resources from loss-making factories into placing disabled people into mainstream jobs.

The factory in Pogmoor, Barnsley, which employs 38 disabled people to make furniture, loses 1 million a year.

Bosses at Remploy want to close the site and relocate staff to its site in Brightside Lane, Sheffield, where production is being expanded.

Operations are also being expanded at Remploy’s factory in Sheffield Road, Chesterfield.

The union Unite regional officer, Kevin Hepworth, said: "Unite and the other unions regret having to ballot their members in defence of jobs in Remploy.

“However the company is continuing with its programme of closures throwing thousands of disabled workers out of meaningful work.

"We must ballot to be ready to fight for jobs if the company continue to ignore the alternative business plan proposed by the unions.

“We hope for a huge “yes” vote to impress on not just the company but also the Government as disabled workers deserve better.”