Plaid Cymru AM Lindsay Whittle has raised the threat to 132 jobs at a Bedwas aluminium plant with First Minister Carwyn Jones in the Senedd today.
Sapa Extrusions has entered into a consultation process with employees and unions at the factory, which opened in the early 1970s.
Lindsay Whittle, who represents South Wales East and is also a Caerphilly councillor, said: “First Minister, we received news yesterday that Sapa Extrusion’s Bedwas plant was under threat of closure. Explicitly blamed by the company was the current market conditions in the UK and further afield.
“There are 132 skilled manufacturing jobs at this site, jobs we can ill afford to lose. Will you commit to ensuring your government makes every effort to engage with the company and the workforce to try to avoid closure?”
Responding the First Minister said that the announcement was very worrying and officials from the Welsh Government would be liaising with the company.
Well done Lindsay but I have a feeling that SAPA will take very little notice of what AMs say. The 'consultation' period is a statutory requirement when more a handful of people are being made redundant. In my experience the decision has already been made and all these jobs will all go.
That said, it is the right thing for an AM to raise the matter.
Its good he tried, but the reality is that the Welsh Government cant do anything, does it give SAPA money to keep production open, if it could and did for how long?, There been a long history of companies taking up grants to build factories and then doing moonlit flits, I was one of the workforce at a site in Ebbw Vale who turned up for work on a monday morning, and the place had been gutted over the weekend. The Welsh Government couldnt nationalise the firm, it doesnt have the money or knowhow to run it.Its a sad state of affairs but Wales has no capitalist class to run our economy. The comparison with say Belgium is interesting, Wales and Belgium were major players in coal and steel in the 19th century, but in Belgium the profits stayed there, in Wales they
went to London and it prospered.And of course the EU, based in Brussels cant help us because asset striping, also know as free movement of capital was a founding element in the creation of the EU. Another problem is the cost of the Severn Bridge tolls, which puts investors off coming to WAles,ironic that we pay them to a French company. If its any consolaation Lindsay Wayne David cant do anything either.
The Welsh government is powerless to do anything (unless it buys the factory)and the first minister already knew about the closure. He reads the news and it's not as if there was no coverage of the closure. Why did Whittle need to ask him? Obviously officials will liaise, it's their duty.
My opinion is that Whittle asked such an obvious question to get him extra publicity. Mr Whittle should be blaming himself. After all, it's the union he voted for and supports that is making such asset stripping by mainland based companies possible.
There are plenty of successful business people in Wales who love the challenge of taking a business and turning it around. If Sapa no longer want this company then they should seek a responsible owner and sell it to someone who is willing to put the effort into making it a good company again.
I hope someone like Bruce Dickinson fancies getting involved in a different kind of metal. Could be nice for someone who is used to "Heavy Metal" to get into the "Light Metal" business.
This is the time for the First Minister to do a little less talking and start making a few phone calls to the right Welsh People who may want to take on the challenge of saving these jobs.
They should just get over it and accept the closure