REMPLOY have assured workers at their Knowsley Road factory that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the company's recently-issued Corporate Plan.

Charlie Leonard of the St Helens branch of the GMB union, which supports disabled workers, said: "The plan proposes the closure of 17 factories within Remploy around the country with the loss of 1,000 jobs by the year 2001."

However, Remploy spokesman, Ray Fletcher, told the Star: "Our second annual Corporate Plan was issued in May and management representatives have also visited staff at all Remploy factories to give them a detailed account of our future aims. Basically, we are looking to merge 17 of our factories and as a result, we will not be taking anyone else on for work. However, staff at all the factories concerned have been assured that we will not be making any compulsory redundancies."

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