ANGRY WORKERS axed by electronics company Simclar took their protest to the firm’s headquarters in Dunfermline yesterday.

Two busloads containing about 100 people turned up at the Pitreavie Business Park in the morning.

They were among the 420 who found themselves locked out of Simclar’s plants in Irvine and Kilwinning in Ayrshire at the start of last week.

The closure came as a shock to the workers, who are furious about the way they have been treated by the company.

They believe they have been denied proper consultation and redundancy pay.

Union leaders have also accused Simclar of asset stripping its Ayrshire factories and transferring them to the parent company Simclar Group Ltd.

It is a claim vigorously denied by Simclar’s founder Sam Russell, who began his business in his garage.

Simclar makes computer parts for major firms such as IBM and Eriksson and now employs about 2000 people around the world.

It has made Mr Russell a multi-millionaire.

Willie Paterson, of Community, the union representing the workforce, said they arrived at about 6am and planned to stay all day.

“Our members are disgusted at how Sam Russell, chairman of Simclar Group, is trying to dodge his responsibility to them,” he said.

“We are here outside the company’s headquarters to let him and his fellow directors know what we think of them.

“We are not here to demonstrate against the workers, it’s a protest against the directors.”

Mr Paterson has already urged the 300-strong workforce at Pitreavie to join the union in an attempt to protect their jobs.

They currently have no representation and Mr Paterson said what happened last week in Ayrshire showed no electronics job was safe.

Simclar has blamed the job losses on pressure from low-cost economies, falling orders and uncertainty within the Scottish manufacturing industry.

The workers plan to take their protest to the Scottish Parliament today.

Fife Police were keeping an eye on the protest. A spokesman said, “It has been a peaceful demonstration so far and there is going to be a police presence there all day.”