Remploy refuse to disclose name of preferred bidder chosen for automotive business in Birmingham, Coventry and Derby
Secrecy over the preferred bidder is the final straw and leaving vulnerable people in limbo over future employment is an absolute disgrace says GMB.
Remploy, whose Government funding is due to finish at the end of September, has announced that a preferred bidder has been chosen for its automotive business with factories in Birmingham, Coventry and Derby. However they refuse to announce who the preferred bidder is.
GMB and Birmingham MP John Hemming have led calls for an investigation following the failed bid of a workers cooperative which was supported by Hemming and GMB. He has called for the process to be stopped while an investigation into the sale of the business has been carried out.
The Sayce Report on Remploy had recommended that workers and managers should have been given every opportunity to bid and turn factories into social enterprises.
John Hemmings MP has accused the company of continuously refusing to release information on the bidding process and value for money criteria confirmed by Ian Russell, Chairmen of the Board at Remploy following questions from a MP Select Committee in March 2013.
Dominic Hinks, GMB Organiser, said:
“Remploy have announced that they have chosen a preferred bidder however they have refused to give the trade union or the workforce any indication who this is.
"The company continue to treat our members with utter contempt with this veil of secrecy over the bidding process. There remains a serious concern about the whole of the process.
"This whole process is a joke. GMB fully support an external investigation into this process. This cloud of secrecy over the preferred bidder is the final straw. To leave vulnerable people in limbo over there future employment is an absolute disgrace."
