Jobs blow for St Helens as Pilkington Glass factory shuts

A St Helens factory which makes glass for the building industry is to close with the loss of 140 jobs in a "devastating blow" to the economy.

Pilkington said that, following a business review, it had decided to end manufacturing at its Cowley Hill float site in St Helens, Lancashire.

A company statement said: "The current economic downturn has impacted severely on float glass volumes, resulting in overcapacity, reduced prices and lack of profitability in the float product segment for the company in the UK.

"As a result, a decision has been taken to adjust production capacity to match profitable customer demand.

"The company will be opening a voluntary redundancy window to mitigate the impact of compulsory redundancies. Discussions have commenced with employees and their representatives."

Managing director Matt Buckley said:

The GMB union said that following job cuts last week at Tata Steel and yesterday's 1,700 shipyard job cuts, people were entitled to ask what sort of economic recovery the UK was experiencing.

The company employs 2,500 people in the UK, including 1,350 in the North West of England.

Charlie Leonard, regional officer of the GMB union, said the news had come as a shock, adding: