Scottish trade unions, actively playing in the leather tanning industry, have sounded the alarm after rumours about possible job cuts at WJ & W Lang. The tannery, based in Paisley, which is part of Scottish Leather Group, produces hides and leather for the most popular and renowned car manufacturing companies in the United Kingdom. According to workers’ representatives, then, the company might allegedly go out of business and consequently lay off about one hundred employees. Yet the company’s top managers have denied such job downsizing.
Job cuts at WJ & W Lang
As reported by dailyrecord.co.uk, trade unions representatives believe that Paisley tannery will expectedly close forever in a noticeably short while. Such event, apparently, is due to a downturn in orders following Coronavirus outbreak and subsequent international markets’ crisis. For the records, the automotive sector has been affected as well. In fact, the Scottish tannery, founded in 1872, is a leather supplier for renowned car manufacturing companies such as Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Range Rover, and for the British Parliament as well. The tannery is part of Scottish Leather Group, which currently hires over 630 employees overall, and is also a leather supplier for the aeronautical, railway and nautical industries as much as for the home furnishings one.
A few doubts
Trade unions, then, claim that the company is allegedly tackling financial difficulties by reducing the number of employees. According to owners, layoffs amount to around thirty, yet workers’ representatives fear that all employees, more than 100 in total, will be possibly made redundant. The company has denied such downsizing plans. Reportedly, some redundancies at WJ & W Lang have been already taken on by Bridge of Weir, a British tannery which refers to the same group. According to trade unions, the whole of WJ & W Lang workers might be relocated here, should the tannery eventually close, even just provisionally. In fact, if markets and sales picked up again, the company would successfully manage to get back on track in a short while.
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