MP expresses deep disappointment at NACCO closure
Central Ayrshire MP Brian Donohoe has expressed his deep disappointment about the decision by forklift truck company NACCO to close down its plant in Irvine.
The company has informed its employees that up to 99 staff will lose their jobs next month, with the remainder leaving in April 2009. A spokesman described the move as ‘a result of a restructuring plan announced in August 2007’, at which time they announced that production in Irvine would cease by the end of this year. As such, the move is not a direct response to the financial turbulence of recent weeks and would have happened anyway.
‘Nevertheless’, Mr Donohoe says ‘this is clearly a very worrying time, and people up and down the constituency will see it as a sign of the way things are going to be for a while. However, I think Central Ayrshire is as well placed as anywhere to ride this rough patch. In the Prestwick area, for example, there’s a recruitment drive. I believe the skills of the NACCO workers would prove very useful there, and I hope they’ll be able to get new jobs quickly.’
NACCO Materials Handling Group (NHMG) is one of the largest producers of forklift trucks in the world. The Irvine plant is one of eighteen plants worldwide and five in Europe.