Tannoy Owner Urged To ‘Come Clean For Christmas’

Tannoy Owner Urged To ‘Come Clean For Christmas’ Over Future Of Scottish Workers

GMB Scotland has today (Thursday 22 December) called on the owner of the Coatbridge speaker firm Tannoy to ‘come clean for Christmas’ over the future of new manufacturing base in Scotland.

Uli Behringer, head of Tannoy’s parent company Music, told the media in September that plans to relocate to a new manufacturing site in Scotland were being made which would ensure continued local community involvement and employment.

But no further consultations have taken place with the workforce who are now being urged to sign individual redundancy settlements by Friday 13 January, while plant management have been placed on ‘gardening leave’ and had their email access blocked.

The Coatbridge site is scheduled to close on 31 March 2017.

GMB Scotland Organiser Ude Adigwe said: “Uli Behringer has been leading his workers and the media up the garden path over his real intentions for Tannoy’s Scottish operations.

The self-styled ‘chief disrupter’ is stonewalling his employees and instead of addressing their concerns demoralised workers now have to forward questions concerning their futures to an HQ call centre in Manila.

With local management having been effectively routed by Behringer, it looks like the Coatbridge plant is simply being run-down ahead of March with no real prospect of a new site.

The least he can do for this highly skilled and loyal workforce is to come clean for Christmas.”

Ends

Contact: GMB Scotland Organiser, Ude Adigwe, on 07912 560805 or Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.

Notes to Editors: Scotsman.com. (2016) Tannoy owner sounds out new Scottish base. [online] Available at: http://www.scotsman.com/coatbridge/tannoy-owner-sounds-out-new-scottish-base-1-4226084