Cash boost cut
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A £58m investment planned for the strike-torn Bathgate plant has been cancelled and all work that was to have been done at the factory is to be sub-contracted.
The move was decided on at a board meeting on Monday afternoon and comes as a direct result of the 46-day-old strike by 1,500 machinists — and it is still possible that existing jobs at the plant could be lost.
It also means that the town of Bathgate has lost 3,000 potential new jobs.
Among the plans that have now been shelved is the building of ckd vehicles at the plant and work which was to have been transferred from the Albion plant plus work on lightweight cabs.
£32m of the cuts are irreversible but the rest of the plan depends on an early return to work by the machinists.
But it has been made clear by Leyland Vehicles deputy managing director Jack Smart that unless there is cooperation from the company's workforce then Leyland Vehicles will grind to a halt.