By Charlene Kelly

CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown has pledged to help 90 Fife workers who have been given the shock news that they are to lose their jobs.

The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP offered his services after theatre lighting firm Strand Lighting told employees the Kirkcaldy plant would cease operating by November next year with the loss of the entire workforce.

Talks are taking place to find the first 40-plus redundancies. They are expected to leave within four weeks, and a further 40-plus employees will be phased out over the next 18 months.

Amicus trade union representative Margaret Lawson, who has been a production supervisor at the plant for 20 years, said that the announcement was a “bolt out of the blue.”

“No one was expecting it, and everyone has been left feeling totally despondent,” she told The Courier. “Some employees have 30 to 40 years’ service and feel very disappointed at the way this has all been handled.

“I had a feeling we were experiencing problems because of a decrease in the number of orders over the last six months, and I did worry that things were going on behind the scenes, which led me to press for a meeting with the company director, Adrian Evans. But, despite repeated attempts, he refused to speak to me.

“In fact it wasn’t until 15 minutes before a meeting to announce the redundancies was called that I was even informed.

“Mr Evans claims the weak dollar is to blame for the closure, but I think that’s a pretty poor excuse.”

“We have been told that the work done in our factory will now be done by a new modernised facility outside London, and that’s a bitter pill to swallow.

“For a company to go under is one thing, but for long-serving employees to lose their jobs to another facility is another.

“If we had known about any difficulties we might have been able to help to rectify the situation but, instead, we were kept in the dark and given no opportunity to do that in any shape or form.”

Ms Lawson said that although she and her fellow workers had been left devastated by the blow, she was grateful to MSP Marilyn Livingstone and Chancellor Gordon Brown for getting in touch to ask how they could help.

“Mr Brown called me directly to say he had heard the news from Kirkcaldy MSP Marilyn Livingstone, who has also pledged to help us in any way she can,” she said.

“He said he was sorry to hear about the impending closure of the factory and the job losses and asked if he could be of assistance.

“We are all still reeling from the shock of the news but I am grateful to Mr Brown for his offer of help and plan to meet with him as soon as he is available to discuss the matter further.”

In the meantime Mrs Livingstone is in talks with company bosses and has arranged a meeting with deputy enterprise minister Alan Wilson.

Managerial staff at the Mitchelston Industrial Estate plant were unavailable for comment yesterday due to the bank holiday, but a statement by president Tim Burnham on the company website read, “Strand Lighting has announced that its three UK facilities in Kirkcaldy, Cambridge and London will be consolidated into a new, custom facility outside of London.

“The Kirkcaldy factory will be closed down in a phased manner, over a period of up to 18 months.

“Between now and the end of this year, certain dimming products presently manufactured in Scotland for the European market will be replaced by new products made in Strand manufacturing sites, which are presently undergoing extensive modernisation in the US and elsewhere.”