Bosch job losses were expected, says factory worker

Evan Williams, 56, who has worked at Bosch's Miskin plant in South Wales for five years, was told yesterday that his place of work would be closing. All the workers knew that Bosch was in trouble but they had been hoping that new orders would come in and their jobs would be saved. Williams said that in October workers were told that there would be two possible outcomes from a 90-day consultation period. Either new orders would be received and only 300 jobs would be cut, or the plant would close, leaving 900 people out of work. "My friend said that if [management] had new orders they would be running down the corridors shouting yippee," he says. "People knew that no new orders had come in and were expecting the factory to close." However, Williams refuses to blame Bosch. "I'm not angry at them. It was purely economic. They had no choice." Williams and the other workers will now start looking for jobs elsewhere, but as factory after factory closes in Wales, the outlook is bleak. "We are all worried for the future because jobs aren't out there as they used to be. This will increase unemployment dramatically," he says. "It's a huge blow to Wales itself. What's happened to the recession bottoming out?"