Freescale Semiconductor, the US venture capitalist-owned technology giant, is now poised to wield the axe at its research and development unit, The Herald has learned.
Freescale Semiconductor, the US venture capitalist-owned technology giant which last month confirmed the closure of its Scottish manufacturing plant and the loss of almost 800 jobs, is now poised to wield the axe at its research and development unit, The Herald has learned.
The impending closure of the troubled company's East Kilbride manufacturing plant, which is being conducted under a hitherto-secret project called Claymore, was revealed by The Herald last year.
However, Freescale has long insisted that its 200-strong R&D team at East Kilbride will remain unscathed.
It emerged yesterday, however, that this situation has now changed and that up to 27 positions could be eliminated as part of a company-wide restructuring move instigated by its recently appointed new chief executive.
A spokeswoman for Texas-based Freescale yesterday told The Herald: "Following last month's announcement of global headcount reductions across the company, Freescale has entered into a minimum 30-day con- sultation with UK employees.
"The majority of the 27 positions potentially impacted in the UK are in support functions and it is anticipated that any redundancies would take place between February and September 2009."
It is a also anticipated that some of the 20 staff employed at the company's site at Aylesbury, north-west of London, may also be impacted by the cuts.
The microchip giant, long a feature of the East Kilbride landscape, was acquired by a consortium of venture capitalists led by US corporate buy-out giant Blackstone for £17.6bn in 2006.
Freescale was spun off from Motorola in 2004.
Meanwhile, Blackstone has blamed the impending closure of the East Kilbride manufacturing operation on technological change, citing a sector-wide move to cheaper microchips with more functionality for the likes of increasingly sophisticated car dashboard displays, noting that products from East Kilbride are going into old vehicle models.
At the same time, it is understood that some of the manufacturing employees are attempting to challenge the legality of the company's slashed redundancy terms amid allegations of bullying by management.
Earlier this year, The Herald also revealed that Free-scale had cut the redundancy entitlement of its workers at East Kilbride by about 30% - only months before its plans to axe the plant emerged.
However, it is understood that Freescale intends to stand firm on its changes to the severance package, which have already been rolled out in the US and Malaysia.
Freescale has also denied any allegations of bullying.
