UK: FUJITSU TO CLOSE MICROCHIP PLANT IN NEWTON AYCLIFFE

(4 Sep 1998) English/Nat

A Japanese-owned microchip plant in northeastern England will close in December with the loss of six-hundred jobs.

The Fujitsu plant in Newton Aycliffe opened in 1991 in an area struggling with high unemployment.

Company officials blamed global adverse conditions in the high technology industrial sector, which also led to the announcement six weeks ago that a Siemens microchip plant in north England was to close with the loss of 1,100 jobs.

Fujitsu, which has 300 plants worldwide, has been hurt by the Asian financial crisis.

The microchip industry was one of the mainstays of the Japanese economy, but it has suffered as Asian economies crumble.

British government officials are planning an aid package to help market the plant and retrain workers.

The plant is also located in Prime Minister Tony Blair's parliamentary constituency.

Mr Blair said Fujitsu, a Japanese company, and other semi-conductor producers had had to cut capacity around the world, including in Japan itself where Fujitsu had cut production lines at several plants..

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There's no doubt at all that both the Japanese situation and the Asian economic crisis, what is happening in Russia, these are matters that as people can see are affecting the whole of the world economy but the fundamentals of the British economy are really very strong. Fujitsu is in a particular market, the semiconductor market which has collapsed all round the world. And the prices for the last two years have been deteriorating so greatly so that plants, literally in most of the countries where this production has been carried on, have either been cut back or closed. But, in respect of the British economy, we shouldn't forget that the actual fundamentals of that economy are very very strong. And there are many sectors where jobs are still being created and investment is still being made."
SUPER CAPTION: Tony Blair, British Prime Minister

Trade Secretary Peter Mandelson expressed his regret but said the British government was not to blame.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This is a setback and it is borne entirely of world-wide conditions, the specific circumstances relating to these specific products, of which we have seen a collapse in their price and markets throughout the world. It is not a reflection on Britain."
SUPER CAPTION: Peter Mandelson, British Trade Minister

The plant closure will result in around 600 job losses.

Disgruntled workers expressed their dismay at the prospect of losing their livelihoods.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Seven-and-a-half years I've been here, that's at my age, no chance(of getting another job)."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop, Fujitsu worker

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Man: It's shocking.
Woman: It's not the Japanese. The Japanese are brilliant to work for.
Man: Yeah, excellent excellent. They really are genuine people. The English management has destroyed a good factory. "
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop, Fujitsu workers

In a letter to workers, the company says it has been losing 50 (m) million pounds (80 (m) million U-S dollars) a year since 1996, when the microchip industry first took a downturn.

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