GEC PLESSEY PROMISES “NO COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES” AT COVENTRY

GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd has agreed not to implement compulsory redundancies at Coventry where the burden of cuts in its merger of the GEC and Plessey telecommunications businesses threatened to fall. GEC Plessey plans to axe 1,500 jobs in total (CI No 925), 700 at Coventry where two plants are to shut down as part of the plan to eliminate duplication of manufacturing. At Coventry, GEC Plessey will now seek to impose the cuts through attrition with no compulsory redundancies. Efforts will be made to provide adequate training to make redeployment a feasible option and the union has received 265 enquiries about redeployment to date. All PABX systems manufacture has been moved to the former Plessey site in Beeston, Nottingham, resulting in the closure of the two GEC Coventry plants. The GEC System X plant in Kircaldy, Scotland has also closed although GEC Plessey says it is looking put this facility to an alternative use. System X switch production is now split between the existing Liverpool and Coventry sites, with the latter doing component manufacture as well as Network Systems.