By Cheryl Wood

CURTIS FINE Papers’ former managing director Keith Chapman was yesterday leading a staff protest against the news that no wages would be paid at the end of this month.

He and around 40 workers were staging a sit-in in the sales office and Mr Chapman vowed to stay all night if necessary until KPMG agreed to stump up.

Mr Chapman told The Courier that the protesters were “effectively trespassing” and had been asked by KPMG to leave the office.

But he said, “We are not prepared to do that. This is a peaceful protest. We will continue for as long as it takes, we will probably sleep here.”

Mr Chapman, who is among those told they were out of a job as of yesterday, explained that while weekly paid staff had been paid for working up to last week, monthly-paid staff wouldn’t be paid for July and would have to claim under the government’s redundancy scheme.

He described the situation as a “real injustice” and said, “There is no difference between weekly-paid staff and staff who get paid at the end of the month. These people will be heavily out of pocket.”

He also said that many of those involved were paid considerably more than what they would be entitled to under the government scheme.

Mr Chapman was also critical of the decision to cease operations while, he claimed, there was a chance of the factory’s survival. He said, “Between January and June we made an overall net profit after payment of interest.

“There is hope of resuscitating the business. We do have interest from other papermakers.

“It seems very short-sighted to close the manufacturing operation while these negotiations are continuing.

“It’s less attractive to buy a business that has been closed for several weeks than buying a going concern.”

However, KPMG insisted that there were no potential buyers and it was unlikely that the business could be sold as a going concern.

Administrator Blair Nimmo also said that there were was no money to pay the former employees and it was simply because of the time of the month that salaried workers were losing out more.

He said when administrators were called in it was more often than not due to cash flow difficulties.

“We are not surprised people are expressing annoyance. This has come out of the blue for them and understandably they are shocked,” he added.

However, he said arrangements had been made with the government department responsible to fast track claims made by ex-employees of Curtis Fine Papers.

He also said he was surprised at Mr Chapman’s comments in relation to potential buyers.

He said, “There is no party interested in buying the company as a going concern.

“That is not to say some interest may not crop up and we are pursuing that but the company is in a difficult market.

“It has been fighting to improve its trading performance for some time. To its credit the management and employees have made considerable strides in that but there are factors outwith their control.”

He also said it was unlikely that the business would be sold in its “current guise.”