Hundreds of manufacturing plant jobs lost on Christmas Eve

Hundreds of employees at a manufacturing plant in Livingston have lost their jobs the day before Christmas.

Around 300 workers at Kaiam, who manufacture optical receivers, were convened on Monday by joint administrators Blair Nimmo and Alistair McAlinden of KPMG.

They were told that due to declining work levels, high costs of operation at the site and the absence of customers orders, there was “no option” but to make 310 of the 338 employees redundant with immediate effect.

The remaining 28 employees have been retained to help the joint administrators explore a sale of the business.

The Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) programme, which responds to redundancy situations, has been mobilised.

It ensures that local public sector agencies respond to potential and proposed redundancies as quickly and effectively as possible.

Mr Nimmo said: “We fully recognise that redundancies at this time of year are particularly difficult.

“Our main focus during this challenging period is to work with all affected employees alongside Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and West Lothian Council to ensure that the full range of support is available to them.

“We are also liaising with the UK Government in relation to the timing of redundancy payments via the Insolvency Service.

“In the short term, we are exploring all available options for a sale of the business and would encourage any interested parties to contact us as soon as possible.”