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Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:37 pm
by mik
Shame. 850 jobs.
The first guy interviewed sounds like he says "it is a shock...cvnt..."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... l-46109213
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:49 pm
by Orange Cola
Schaeffler are starting to pack up and move abroad too, so there’s another load of jobs lost.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:56 pm
by Carlos
That's exactly what he says lol.
I do wonder whether these announcements are pre-brexit posturing but regardless it's a stressful time for an area that needs those jobs
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:01 pm
by McSwede
I was up in Dundee last week and that what people were saying was going to happen. IIRC they make 13"-14" tyres for export rather than popular sizes we use here. Sad but inevitable and it's a lot of people out of work.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:09 pm
by 240PP
mik wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:37 pm
The first guy interviewed sounds like he says "it is a shock...cvnt..."
lolz. The bloke at 0:37 sounds he like says "It's a disaster....fvck". Is it a Scottish thing?
What a pisser for all involved though.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:00 pm
by nuttinnew
McSwede wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:01 pm
I was up in Dundee last week and that what people were saying was going to happen. IIRC they make 13"-14" tyres for export rather than popular sizes we use here. Sad but inevitable and it's a lot of people out of work.
I didn't know of that factory until this happened, maybe not surprising if they just exported.
Harsh how they found out.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:14 pm
by mik
240PP wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:09 pm
mik wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:37 pm
The first guy interviewed sounds like he says "it is a shock...cvnt..."
lolz. The bloke at 0:37 sounds he like says "It's a disaster....fvck". Is it a Scottish thing?
What a pisser for all involved though.
Have you never been to Jockland? YC.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:42 pm
by robin_cox
It sounds like just another factory closure - but it is huge up here. Part of the issue is that this is another of the big international companies that came here and re-deployed a huge chunk of the workforce after the postwar decline of the jute mills from their heyday around the late 19th century - back in the 60s/70s there was the Timex, the Cash (NCR), Levis and Michelin who provided a generation with apprenticeships, jobs and qualifications - and Sinclair Spectrums out of the skips. One by one since the 80s / early 90s (and this week) they've all gone, to be replaced by the high-tech sector (Software / Games development from Abertay Uni and Biotech from Dundee Uni) - but this obviously is much more focused around the younger educated generation or people from elsewhere who have come in to work in the University sector and spin-outs, leaving a large swathe of the local population outwith this group without much in the way of hope or aspiration. Difficult to explain how big a kick in the baws this announcement is to a significant part of the local population.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 10:45 pm
by DeskJockey
robin_cox wrote: Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:42 pm
It sounds like just another factory closure - but it is huge up here. Part of the issue is that this is another of the big international companies that came here and re-deployed a huge chunk of the workforce after the postwar decline of the jute mills from their heyday around the late 19th century - back in the 60s/70s there was the Timex, the Cash (NCR), Levis and Michelin who provided a generation with apprenticeships, jobs and qualifications - and Sinclair Spectrums out of the skips. One by one since the 80s / early 90s (and this week) they've all gone, to be replaced by the high-tech sector (Software / Games development from Abertay Uni and Biotech from Dundee Uni) - but this obviously is much more focused around the younger educated generation or people from elsewhere who have come in to work in the University sector and spin-outs, leaving a large swathe of the local population outwith this group without much in the way of hope or aspiration. Difficult to explain how big a kick in the baws this announcement is to a significant part of the local population.
The closure and subsequent redevelopment of Longbridge created a very similar situation. All the much publicised new development and regeneration wasn't for the locals that used to work in the factory or the supporting industries.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 11:35 pm
by mik
DeskJockey wrote: Wed Nov 07, 2018 10:45 pm
robin_cox wrote: Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:42 pm
It sounds like just another factory closure - but it is huge up here. Part of the issue is that this is another of the big international companies that came here and re-deployed a huge chunk of the workforce after the postwar decline of the jute mills from their heyday around the late 19th century - back in the 60s/70s there was the Timex, the Cash (NCR), Levis and Michelin who provided a generation with apprenticeships, jobs and qualifications - and Sinclair Spectrums out of the skips. One by one since the 80s / early 90s (and this week) they've all gone, to be replaced by the high-tech sector (Software / Games development from Abertay Uni and Biotech from Dundee Uni) - but this obviously is much more focused around the younger educated generation or people from elsewhere who have come in to work in the University sector and spin-outs, leaving a large swathe of the local population outwith this group without much in the way of hope or aspiration. Difficult to explain how big a kick in the baws this announcement is to a significant part of the local population.
The closure and subsequent redevelopment of Longbridge created a very similar situation. All the much publicised new development and regeneration wasn't for the locals that used to work in the factory or the supporting industries.
I grew up close to the Talbot/Chrysler plant in Linwood (as per the "Linwood no more" lyric in the Proclaimers "letter to america"). Huge employer in the area. I visited the plant as a sprog during a family open day (mates dad worked there). The unions caused the closure imho - opposing everything and creating huge inefficiences, but suicide rates in the viscinity went tgrough the roof after the doors shut. Bad times.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:42 am
by DeskJockey
From what I was told when interviewing former employees in Longbridge I think the unions have a lot to answer for in the demise of Rover and if their conduct there was commonplace, then also elsewhere.
It is a complex situation that nobody can be solely blamed for, but it seems that overall the driving forces lost sight of the big picture while vying for power and control.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 7:05 am
by NotoriousREV
That number of job losses is devastating for any community both directly and indirectly as it has a huge knock on impact.
I’m fairly anti-union because of what I saw in the 80s. Unions would happily destroy an industry whilst failing to save 100 jobs. So short sighted.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 7:12 am
by JLv3.0
Same here Dave - I imagine most people of our age group would agree. Unions are a good idea, but only in theory.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 7:29 am
by V8Granite
100% agree on the unions. Coming home from school to my Dad at home as the union decided on another walkout for pathetic self serving reasons.
It’s amazing what some businesses bring to a town, Peterborough was built around Perkins Engines, it used to have 10,000 employees at its peak, it’s around 1500 now.
Hopefully someone sees a chance to make money and gets some jobs back in the area.
Dave!
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:17 am
by Gavin
I am not sure I have seen any "we are definitely coming to invest due to Brexit" news stories.
Dundee is quite a cool city nowadays with the new V&A and regeneration, hopefully that won't be fucked completely!
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:30 am
by ZedLeg
As said further up in the thread the regeneration is likely to pass the people affected by the closure by. Most will end up in bottom rung service/retail jobs which are becoming more and more exploitative as time goes on, if they manage to find a job at all
I don’t disagree that the unions had their share of the blame for what happened to British industry during the 70s and 80s but I do think that there should be someone arguing for workers rights.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:48 am
by DeskJockey
I'm not against unions as a concept, but there are some egregious examples in the UK's relatively recent past.
Looking at a Danish context unions have been a much better influence I think, but preference boils down to your view of how things should be organised. They do protect workers rights and by bargaining collectively secure a better average outcome for them, in my opinion. However that mostly comes at the cost of the individuals ability to negotiate for themselves. By having weight of numbers as the main lever, they cannot easily allow "outsiders" in businesses/industries they represent.
All this obviously predicated on a common sense (whatever that means) approach.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2018 9:12 pm
by Orange Cola
There’s still a strong union presence in the automotive industry and from what I’ve seen they’re an embarrassment. A colleague was showing me this years annual negotiation points which were emailed out a few weeks back and it was an MS Word document full of spelling and grammar errors, for an annual monthly fee FFS. The requests they wanted were laughable too and yet again the company has walked all over the union. Based on how much a union can cripple a company and not support a company that might be a good thing.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 7:39 am
by NotoriousREV
ZedLeg wrote: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:30 am
I don’t disagree that the unions had their share of the blame for what happened to British industry during the 70s and 80s but I do think that there should be someone arguing for workers rights.
Yeah, it’s easy for us to dismiss unions now that they’ve done all the hard work and won those rights for us.
Re: Michelin's manufacturing plant in Dundee
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 7:41 am
by JLv3.0
You said you were anti-unions? That's a pro-union stance, isn't it.
