Top-level crisis talks are to be held on the future of a troubled disabled workers’ organisation.
Fife MSP Helen Eadie will host a summit at Holyrood on Thursday to discuss the possible closure of 54 Remploy factories across the UK.
The firm, the country’s largest employer of disabled people, has seven factories in Scotland, including Dundee, Leven and Cowdenbeath.
Its future is under threat after the Sayce report on specialist disability programmes recommended the end of Government support for segregated employment.
The review, commissioned by the Government and led by Liz Sayce, chief executive of disability charity Radar, concluded state support for segregated employment should be phased out in favour of helping disabled people get and keep jobs in the general market.
Amid fears thousands of disabled people will end up on the scrapheap if the Government accepts the recommendations, Mrs Eadie has invited MSPs, MPs, local government leaders, trade unions and disability groups and campaigners to the Holyrood discussions.
The Cowdenbeath MSP has the support of a number of Fife politicians and employees at Fife’s two Remploy factories who have launched a campaign to save their jobs.
Mrs Eadie said: “The majority of Remploy factories across the UK will close within the next year if the proposals contained within this report are accepted by the Government at Westminster.
“I have written to every parliamentarian across the whole of the UK, including all the devolved assemblies. I am urging them to fight against these closures and protect these much needed employment opportunities.
“This crisis summit has been organised in partnership with the unions GMB, Unite and Community and will show just how vehemently opposed people are to these regressive and dangerous plans in the Sayce report.”
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Mrs Eadie hailed plans by Friends Of Remploy to change factories to community co-operatives as a positive way forward, but said the SNP government in Edinburgh could help by ensuring European legislation was used to get public sector contracts for sheltered workplaces.
“Time is running out for these workers and the Sayce proposals must be resisted. If David Cameron thinks that closing Remploy factories is an easy option then he’ll have a fight on his hands.”
Glenrothes MP Lindsay Roy also expressed concern about the possibilities of closure and warned the move could cost the Government more than it saves.
Mr Roy, who visited the Leven site last week, is backing the campaign to retain the operation and said: “Remploy in Fife is highly successful. The workers exceed their targets and are rightly proud of their achievements and the valuable contribution they make to the local economy.
“I spoke to some of the workforce and they are extremely anxious and on tenterhooks during the consultation period. They fear that if Remploy closes they will not be able to find other suitably supported employment. If they cannot then it could well cost the Government more in benefits.
“The hallmark of a civilised society is how we support and engage disabled people in our communities and closure of the Remploy factories without any alternative employment would have a devastating effect on this conscientious group of people.”
The Department of Work and Pensions said no decisions had been made about Remploy and a consultation was ongoing.
“We said we would consult on the recommendations put forward by Liz Sayce and that is what we are doing,” said a spokeswoman. “The Sayce review is about spending money differently, not cutting it.
“The amount of money going into employment services for disabled people is being protected. But by spending it differently there is the potential to support an extra 35,000 disabled people into work.”
The report found that a third of the entire budget for specialist disability programmes is spent supporting people in Remploy, but that all the factories together are losing £63 million a year.