{"id":22147,"date":"2020-06-17T14:15:24","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T13:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=22147"},"modified":"2020-06-17T14:15:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T13:15:24","slug":"currency-production-to-move-overseas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=22147","title":{"rendered":"Currency production to move overseas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite, which represents the workforce at De La Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s factory in Gateshead,is urging the company to reconsider the announcement today (June 17) that it will cease banknote production at the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement puts 255 skilled workers in the north east at risk of redundancy. De La Rue has said it intends to transfer work to its other sites: Debden in Essex, and factories in Kenya, Malta and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement of job losses is directly linked to De La Rue losing the contract to print the new \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUK blue passports\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 in 2018. The government awarded the \u00c2\u0141490 million contract to the French\/Dutch company Gemalto. The work has since been outsourced to Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When De la Rue was producing UK passports, there were over 500 workers employed at the Gateshead site. Last year, one line was closed making 170 workers redundant and a further 80 workers will be made redundant this month as passport production finally ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite has argued that the UK should follow the lead of other countries and passport production should be a matter of national security and exempt from the standard tender process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gateshead plant has long been regarded as a flagship site and the loyal workforce has frequently travelled abroad to provide expert training as the company expanded overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite assistant general secretary for manufacturing Steve Turner said,\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has feared this announcement since De La Rue was denied the UK passport contract in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite believes that the printing of UK passports is a matter of national security and this contract should never have been allowed to go overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNo other major European country would allow their passports to be printed abroad. Our government talks the talk of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098taking back control\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and protecting UK interests but has consistently failed to walk the walk\u00c2\u00a0and move beyond soundbites to practical action supporting jobs and communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince the government decision to off-shore UK passport production, the long-term viability of the Gateshead site and the remaining skilled jobs it provides for the north east\u00c2\u00a0have been at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It cannot be acceptable that UK jobs are lost in part\u00c2\u00a0because production of the national currency moves overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is now imperative that the government steps in to ensure that the site is preserved and that the contract to print passports is returned to the UK as a matter of urgency.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite regional officer Tom Usher said,<\/em><\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has been aware for a long time that unless De La Rue invested in Gateshead and brought other production opportunities to the site,\u00c2\u00a0our members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 jobs would be at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe company has chosen not to do this, but this is not the time to be announcing job cuts this decision must be paused and reconsidered,” he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDe La Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dedicated workforce, which has worked throughout the pandemic when other sites were interrupted, deserve to be treated better than this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is doing everything possible to\u00c2\u00a0support and represent our members throughout this highly stressful time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Barckley Sumner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite, which represents the workforce at De La Rue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s factory in Gateshead,is urging the company to reconsider the announcement today (June 17) that it will cease banknote production at the site. The announcement puts 255 skilled workers in the north east at risk of redundancy. De La Rue has said it intends to transfer work to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[900,55,647],"wps_subtitle":"De La Rue urged to think again as Gateshead banknote job losses announced","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22147"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22151,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22147\/revisions\/22151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}