Wilton workers axed
Jan 14 2009 by Kathryn Smith, Evening Gazette
AROUND 300 jobs are to go at Invista Textiles UK Ltd at Wilton.
And the rapid decline in global demand for nylon-based products could see many more Teesside firms slowing or ceasing production.
Yesterday Invista opened talks on ceasing production at its manufacturing site. The polymer producer has begun a 90-day consultation with unions following falling demand for its products caused by the downturn in the housing, automobile and textiles markets.
Invista’s other business interests at Wilton - its Performance Technologies division and research and development activities - will not be affected by the proposals.
The North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) said the announcement “came as no surprise”.
Chief executive Stan Higgins said: “Some companies like Invista will not be able to survive this current downturn past the middle of this year.
“Elsewhere in the chemical economy - in speciality and fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals - there appears to have been less of an impact.”
He also said the region’s process industry may have to revise downwards its target of recruiting more than 8,000 workers by 2014.
Around 60% of Teesside’s economic power is dependent on the process sector. The 350 companies which make up NEPIC contribute more than one third (£8bn) of the £23bn the sector generates for the UK’s GDP.
According to the Nylon Chain Report 2008, demand is forecast to grow at a sluggish 1.7% over the next four years, triggering contraction in production capacity.
INEOS Nitriles at Seal Sands, which also supplies chemicals for nylon production, was said today to be losing more than 100 contract jobs in order to improve viability.
