Freescale Semiconductor slashed the redundancy entitlement of its workers at East Kilbride by about 30% only months before its plans to axe the plant emerged and the Scottish Government is now being asked to force the US electronics giant to reverse this cut, The Herald can reveal.

Workers say they were told by Freescale in 2006 that the cut in redundancy terms would help secure their jobs "until 2010 and beyond". These people are now losing their jobs as Freescale exits East Kilbride.

The impending closure of East Kilbride, under a secret project called "Claymore", was revealed by The Herald in June last year. It will cost about 750 skilled production jobs, and the closure also puts up to 100 support posts at risk.

East Kilbride MSP Andy Kerr yesterday wrote to SNP enterprise minister Jim Mather asking him to "put pressure" on Freescale over the cut in redundancy terms.

Kerr said: "The proposition was put to the workforce two years ago that this would make the company more attractive and the prospect of it remaining open and viable was the rationale.

"I share the view of the workforce in this question. That is not true now and it was not true then and it is borne out by events."

A spokesman for the Scottish Government told The Herald last night: "We will consider the important issues raised in Mr Kerr's letter when we receive it".

The intervention of Kerr emerged as trade union Unite, which claims about 25% membership at Freescale's East Kilbride plant, revealed the company had rejected its request to be involved in the formal consultation exercise about the facility's closure.

Kerr said: "There are grounds for the Government to put pressure on the company. I have written to Jim Mather about that. I do say in the letter that the employees were led to believe this (cut in redundancy terms) was shaping up for the future. It is more to do with the fact the company was going to ship out. That is what annoys me about it.

"I do believe there is a point here that needs to be made - about what that was all about. Was it genuinely about shaping the company up? That I doubt."

The 2006 cut in redundancy terms at Freescale, which was spun out of Motorola in 2004 and had offered employees four weeks salary per year of service before the reduction, was made shortly before the company's $17.6bn sale to venture capitalists Blackstone, Texas Pacific, Carlyle and Permira in late 2006.

Freescale's workforce at East Kilbride has, through its "employee forum", asked the company to reinstate their previous redundancy terms in light of the impending plant closure. This is one of the "major agenda items" for the forum in the company's official consultation with its workers about its axing of the plant.

It is understood the request has been fed back to Freescale's Texas headquarters and that the local management at East Kilbride is awaiting a response.

A spokeswoman for Freescale at East Kilbride said yesterday: "Severance terms form a key part of the company's consultation on proposed closure. The consultation process is ongoing with our employee forum and all staff are being regularly updated on progress."

One source told The Herald that one of Freescale's senior US executives had claimed last week, when asked by the workforce at East Kilbride, that closure of this plant was "definitely not on the cards" when the redundancy terms were reviewed.

However, Tony Devlin, regional industrial organiser at Unite, said: "I had a feeling the company were changing it for a reason because, if they had no plans for the site or for the company, why change it? You would leave it as is.

"When I saw it was being changed, in terms of redundancy, I advised people to tread very carefully and not accept anything that was detrimental to them. The change to terms and conditions ended up where it is, which is a lesser redundancy package. My worst fears have been confirmed, basically."

Devlin said he had written to East Kilbride site manager Ron Dickinson requesting "in light of the large number of members we have, a seat at the consultation table".

The trade union official added: "The answer was no."

Devlin, citing the "massive effect" the closure of the Freescale manufacturing plant would have on the local economy, added: "It would have made perfect sense for the employees to have us involved in that process in the spirit in which it (the involvement) was offered."

Kerr said he was "unhappy" Freescale had refused to allow Unite to participate in the consultation - a process into which economic development agency Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government have been invited by the company.

Referring to the "very difficult time" faced by Freescale employees, and Unite's significant membership, Kerr added that it was "disappointing but not surprising that they refused to recognise the union".

However, Freescale said: "We have always dealt directly with our employees. We have a very active employee forum. That very adequately represents all our employees."

Adam Ingram, MP for East Kilbride, described Freescale's refusal to allow Unite to represent its members in the consultation exercise as "wholly unacceptable".

Ingram added: "I think they (Freescale) have just got to recognise that people have the right to have people represent them as they see fit."

Referring to the redundancy entitlement issue and the question of union representation, Ingram said: "I would raise the question as to just what the Scottish (Government) and Scottish Enterprise have done on that ... They have been strangely silent. This is a loss of a big, high-quality (electronics plant). There is not a great reaction to it.

"I am getting representation from constituents. I will be taking it forward as best I can."

The Freescale plant at East Kilbride is an icon of the heyday of Scotland's electronics industry - tracing its roots back to Motorola's move into the New Town in 1969.

Freescale blames the closure on technological change.

It cites a sector-wide move to cheaper microchips with more functionality for the likes of increasingly sophisticated car dashboard displays - noting that product from East Kilbride is going into old vehicle models.

Freescale is expected to continue shipping wafers from the East Kilbride plant until at least the second quarter of next year.

The Herald revealed earlier this month that Free-scale is in discussions with Scottish Enterprise about moving its roughly 150-strong research and development team from East Kilbride to another, yet-to-be-determined site, perhaps closer to universities or companies with which the unit collaborates.