Pilkington Glass avoids redundancies with retraining fund

St Helens, UK - Funding from the Learning & Skills Council has saved the jobs of dozens of employees at Pilkington Glass in St Helens. The workers, who had faced redundancy after demand for glass in the automotive and construction industries fell dramatically, have instead undergone health and safety training for a new solar panel production line being launched in January..

The training has initially been offered to 20 members of Pilkington staff, who are attending courses run by Liverpool-based training specialists Sysco, in conjunction with Merseyside Fire Brigade. The course started in September at Pilkington¹s site in St Helens and is being delivered uinder Sysco¹s Inward Investor and Restructuring Response Programme (IRR), which supports North West businesses that are investing, restructuring or preparing employees for redundancy.

Simon Dawson, project manager for Sysco said: ³It¹s great that we¹ve been able to help secure the jobs of dozens of Pilkington staff. This training will enable the Pilkington workforce to retrain and diversify their skills. We hope to be able to offer it to many more employees in the future."

Nick Wilson, health, safety and environmental support manager for Pilkington added: "Demand for glass for cars and buildings has fallen dramatically in recent months, so Pilkington is always looking to develop new and innovative products. Without this training and the funding from the LSC, we simply could not operate the new production line.".