"The employees who have worked at the factory in excess of 20 to 40 years feel they have been sold down the river, and I think they probably have." JohnGrantham

With seven minutes notice last Friday morning the 250 strong workforce at Parker Knoll were summoned to a meeting. They all knew what was coming. Mary Czulowski, the Managing Director of Silentnight Furniture Brands - an unknown figure to the Chippy workers - had come down to the sticks to wield the big axe.  According to one person present she was given a typical Chippy welcome. "Who the hell are you?" shouted one wag from the front row. "Just get on with it" shouted another. Frustration was evident - not surprising from a group of people who have been given the run-around for over a year by a company  stringing everyone along with stories of job transfers to an alternative production site in Oxfordshire.  At the same time they have been finalising an outsourcing strategy and using strongarm tactics to try and extract residential development permission for a large part of their factory site from the local Planning Authority. They are hoping to get well over  £10m  for it.  Until very recently several senior members of the Town Council were convinced that there was still a chance of at least part of the company staying in the town. During this time work patterns have been chaotic, morale at rock bottom and nervous breakdowns among the workforce not unknown. In a hostile atmosphere Mary ploughed on with her statement....

"We have regrettably concluded that the business remains unsustainable in its present form and the Board is today announcing its intentions for a phased closure by 31st December.....Today's announcement is the start of a 90 day consultation period....some 250 jobs will be made redundant...the Board are conscious of the serious consequences for those employees who will be made redundant.....blah, blah, blah" 

It really is difficult for people in secure jobs - like the many public service employees in Chippy - to imagine what this must have all felt like for the long-service workers or the skilled craftsmen who had been expecting the worst but who were now having a very difficult future finally confirmed. Mary had little comfort for them....her statement ended...

"Everyone is now free to leave and go home. You will be paid as normal for today and we expect you back at work  on Monday morning".

The soon-to-be redundant workers left for the pubs and Mary presumably cleaned the mud off her boots and returned to town. From Knightsbridge the company's PR company issued a Press release

.....Extensive research, analysis and review has been carried out during the last twelve months and the clear conclusion is that it is no longer viable to manufacture labour intensive products in this country whilst operating in a global supply chain market. The Chipping Norton site will close by December 31, 2004 on a phased basis, with the loss of approximately 250 jobs.139 of the affected employees live in the Chipping Norton area. Czulowski said, “We greatly regret the loss of these jobs. We have explored every possible option and we have no other alternative".....The Silentnight Group Furniture Brands offering to consumers and our customers must ensure that we supply good quality, competitively priced furniture supported by excellence in service delivery. We have now successfully experienced working with a number of overseas manufacturing partners, producing our exclusive product designs, working with our own on-site quality management teams. We are satisfied that it is a sustainable model for us to deliver exciting branded product ranges to our consumers and satisfy our customers requirements for delivery performance and profitability.

So Farewell and Good luck to Parker Knoll. But what about the town and the workers they are leaving behind - both of whom feel feel pretty badly used. Lets hope the Economic Development Department at the WODC and the Oxford Enterprise Agency and SEEDA have had a chance to consider some of the ideas put to them nearly two months ago in a letter from a number of Chippy business people. There has been no response! READ THE LETTER We need to get really aggressive now about utilising the skills of the redundant workers, organising re-training and providing new employment opportunities in the town. The first thing we need urgently is a survey of available skills and employment needs in the town following a PK closure. The WODC must use the leverage it has via the Planning process to insist that Parker Knoll discuss a planned demise of their premises so that parts of the present site  can be used in the short-term to house small business workshops and units as a temporary measure until a proper industrial estate is developed. The company must be required to co-operate with the OEA in exploring the possibility of management buy-outs of parts of the business. Help and advice is needed to facilitate start-ups for PK employees who want to  set up their own business. The time for talking has passed.  D-day is here.

John Grantham, a former operations director of the firm, and a serving Chipping Norton town councillor, believes the move could devastate the "Gateway to the Cotswolds" and ruin a number of local families. The Lancashire-based company Silentnight, which took over Parker Knoll in 2000, has announced the factory is no longer viable. Mr Grantham, who worked for Parker Knoll from 1962 to 1997 and was operations director for 10 years, says the loss of the town's largest employer will have a direct impact on the local economy. He said: "There are a number of families who had their wives, husbands and children working there; their whole income relies on the factory. Parker Knoll was a good company that paid good wages. These workers are not going to find another job in the town that pays the equivalent, so they are going to travel outside of Chipping Norton for work. This will have a dramatic knock-on effect on businesses and shops in Chipping Norton. The employees who have worked at the factory for an excess of 20 to 40 years feel they have been sold down the river, and I think they probably have. "

The leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, Barry Norton, said: "The council is extremely disappointed that Parker Knoll has decided to move abroad and lose the remaining 250 jobs. "We're currently dealing with the planning application for the site and under our local planning policies we do seek to retain employment sites for further employment where we can. We also feel their decision may be somewhat short-sighted as the Chipping Norton workforce is very skilled and those skills will not be available if they relocate abroad."