A BED-making workshop that provided employment for more than 200 blind and disabled workers closed for good yesterday despite last-ditch attempts to save it.
Staff at the Edinburgh bed-making BlindCraft factory had been told it would close as part of council cutbacks and campaigners said many of the disabled workers will not find new jobs.
Edinburgh City Council decided in February to shut the Craigmillar factory –which dates back to 1793 – to save £700,000 a year.
The workers had been campaigning for First Minister Alex Salmond to step in with the same kind of help he arranged for a similar workshop in Aberdeen. Ministers admitted last week Glencraft (Aberdeen) Ltd had received of £528,695.
Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray MSP said yesterday: “To see the doors close to the oldest supported workshop in Europe after 218 years of loyal service is desperately sad not just for the devoted workforce who have lost their jobs, but for Edinburgh as a whole.
“I pay immense tribute to the loyal workforce at BlindCraft and the trade union community who have campaigned with such dignity and tenacity to keep this proud workplace open.
“When times are tough, it is our duty, more than ever, to stand up for the most vulnerable in our society.
“People will look at the support and the personal commitment Alex Salmond provided to Glencraft in Aberdeen and wonder why the same support could not be provided to BlindCraft in Edinburgh.”
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