Electrolux cuts 500 jobs in factory closure

An Electrolux factory, situated in Durham, has made plans for a closure which will result in over 500 jobs being cut.

The factory, which is the main employer in the town of Spennymoor, decided that moving to Poland will be more beneficial for the company’s future.

Electolux claims that the current site has made a loss in recent years due to a lack of competitiiveness. They hope that the move to Poland will help to revive their former success.

Following the decision, Unite Union boss Jeff Smith expressed that the closure has caused employees a great deal of disappointment and anger. He decribed the redundancies as ‘the worst possible Christmas present.’

Back in 2005, the company spent around £7million on new merchanside for the spennymoor factory. However, Electrolux began to struggle against the pressure of aggressive global competition, which urged them to reassess their operations.

A spokesman from the firm explained that: ‘Following a thorough investigation about the future viability of production at the factory at Spennymoor, Electrolux has decided to discontinue production at the plant.’

In a bid to regain competitiveness, it was also stated that along with moving some of their productions to Poland, some will be discontinued completely.

Two years ago, One NorthEast, a development group for the region, arranged to fund the Electrolux site with over £1.6million, in an attempt to maintain the number of jobs within Durham.

Although, an exact date has not yet been set for the factory’s closure, it is estimated to be in the final months of next year.

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