American cash machine manufacturer NCR has had a major presence in Dundee since the 1940s.
At its height the firm employed thousands of people in the city and its various Dundee operations were seen as a cornerstone of ‘the Cash’s’ global success in the burgeoning ATM market.
Over several decades Dundee proved both a profitable and reliable outlet for the company and, in turn, its presence in the City of Discovery was a force for good as it provided workers with long-term employment and decent salaries.
However, perhaps inevitably, fortunes changed and Dundee’s role in the wider NCR umbrella became increasingly marginalised.
In 2007 the company announced hundreds of job losses at its last remaining production facility in Dundee a direct body blow to scores of local families, many of whom had multiple generations working on the assembly line and in other vital roles.
Two years later I looked on as the company closed the doors of its Wester Gourdie factory for the last time.
There was a heady mix of anger, anguish and disappointment at the decision but also a resoluteness and pride amongst a workforce facing the dole queue after years of hard graft.
The corporate NCR machine knew feelings would run deep over the factory closure and, in addition to local management, the company had a strong presence on the ground that day to deal in the best manner possible with the frustrations and unanswered questions of staff being laid off.
Fast forward four years and the attention of NCR management has now turned to its research and development operation in the city. The software and hardware design hub is the company’s last remaining facility in Dundee and employs upwards of 400 staff in a purpose-built building at Wester Gourdie Industrial estate.
The axe is now hanging over 70 of those employees after an out-of-the-blue move by the company last week.
Affected staff were taken aside to be told the bombshell news that their jobs were under threat before the entire workforce were brought together to be informed of the situation.
A 30-day consultation is now under way and I sincerely hope that ways of ameliorating the job losses are identified and acted upon.
But it was the dismissive manner in which NCR as a company handled the issue that really irked.
A senior company spokesman described the job losses as an “alignment” based on commercial imperatives and said NCR’s policy was not to comment on the details of such situations.
There was little or no outside consultation as the redundancies came as a complete surprise to workforce union Unite.
Dundee’s political representatives were also kept in the dark about what was in the offing, although their requests for a face-to-face update from management have now been indulged to some extent.
NCR’s handling of the situation was a clear failing, and its reticence to talk over difficult issues is at odds with what has gone before. Taking the faceless corporation route has only served to fuel the rumour mill about their future intentions for their Dundee site.
NCR should have been open and transparent from the start and given a full explanation for this latest cost-cutting exercise.
It is the least the company’s loyal workforce and the city which has given it a home for the past 70 years deserves.
There is no reason why NCR should become an acronym for No Corporate Responsibility.Moving in the right directionThere has been some welcome data this week pointing to a marginal improvement in the economy.
The Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs for April found the strongest levels of job creation for a year, while the Scottish Retail Consortium reported an increase in footfall at our shops driven by an upturn in high street bargain hunters.
As a single swallow does not a summer make, these reports do not a recovery make.
But it appears we are at least taking baby steps in the right direction right now, something which it has been difficult to say for some considerable time.