RELOCATION OF LONG & CRAWFORD LTD. IN MANCHESTER

That this House expresses grave concern at the decision of GEC Alsthom to relocate one of its subsidiary companies, Long and Crawford Ltd., from its present position, Gorton Road, Manchester to the GEC Alsthom site at High Openshaw, Manchester, which will create 135 redundancies in East Manchester, an area already devastated by the loss of large manufacturing industries in recent years, resulting in job losses of over 30,000; recognises that the onus for failing the employees of Long and Crawford Ltd. lies entirely with the management in allowing a profitable company, acquired in 1988, to fall into decline at the expense of its employees; condemns GEC Alsthom for taking a decision that once they had recovered the cost of acquisition, they would asset strip, close the factory, relocate, sell the land and sack 135 workers; deplores the treatment of men being made redundant who in many cases have given the company a lifetime of skilled and dedicated service; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to intervene in this and other such cases to halt the further collapse of the United Kingdom manufacturing base and retain the skills and commitment of such workers as those at Long and Crawford Ltd. before they are lost forever.