Warning over Motorola campaign

More than 3,000 people work at the West Lothian plant

An MP has urged union leaders fighting the threatened closure of the Bathgate Motorola plant to proceed with caution.

Linlithgow MP Tam Dalyell warned that union intervention on behalf of the 3,200 workers could jeopardise the plant's future.

Mr Dalyell said bosses of the US telecoms giant had a strong belief that it should deal directly with its employees, and any union-organised demonstrations would be counter-productive as the company considers the factory's future.

The company, which posted its worst quarterly results in 16 years last week, has said it plans to cut 22,000 jobs worldwide.

Mr Dalyell: Union warning

It is feared that the Bathgate plant is to be mothballed as part of a massive scaling back of manufacturing capacity.

Trade unionists from Scotland are expected to meet their counterparts in Germany to discuss the threat to jobs across Europe, in the hope of presenting a united European front to bosses.

The company does not recognise unions at the Bathgate factory and has so far refused to meet them.

Mr Dalyell said the unions risked driving Motorola out of the town, which is in his constituency, if they took an aggressive stance on the issue.

He said: "The decision is now in Chicago and rightly or wrongly, the decision makers wish to deal directly with their employees.

Jobs 'worry'

"I know these Americans. They have an almost religious belief that they like to deal directly with their own employees and not through third parties.

"Above anything else we want to make sure that the factory doesn't close, because that is finality.

Danny Carrigan: Talks invitation

"If there are pictures of demonstrations in Bathgate, that would be absolutely counter-productive in terms of those making the decisions in Chicago.

"Of course I can understand people are worried - we are all worried. So worried that we don't want counter-productive action."

Motorola has so far refused to disclose whether it has any plans to scale down or close the factory, but agreed to hold off any decision until this week after a personal intervention by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In a 15-minute phone call to company president Chris Galvin last Tuesday, Mr Blair put the case for Bathgate, which Motorola is rumoured to be considering switching to a factory in Germany.

The three trades unions with members at Motorola last week made a pact to fight any planned job cuts at the plant.

AEEU Scottish regional secretary Danny Carrigan said: "We have agreed to work together to invite Motorola to engage jointly with us all in talks to see if we can reach a constructive settlement to the problems of the plant."

Jimmy Elsby, assistant general of the T&G union, said: "Motorola needs to meet us and talk their problems through rather than conduct a phoney war of leaks and denials through the media."