Motorola denies plant job fears

Plans to move to Halbeath have been put on hold

Motorola has denied reports that 600 jobs at its microchip factory in South Queensferry are at risk.

A spokesman rejected newspaper reports that plans to move production to Fife meant workers at the semiconductor plant were under threat.

Unions had called for clarification after stories relating to the company's plan to postpone a move to the mothballed Hyundai factory at Halbeath.

Motorola last month said it was shedding 3,000 workers at its mobile phone plant at Bathgate in West Lothian after announcing a $200m loss for the first three months of the year.

The factory makes semiconductors

The company's decision to transfer the semiconductor operation at South Queensferry to Dunfermline has been put back by at least a year because of a slump in the world market for computer chips.

Tony Joyce, the communications manager for Motorola's semiconductor division in Scotland, rejected suggestions that the company was seeking to sell the South Queensferry factory before the move to Fife was complete.

He said: "If the opportunity came to sell the site then that is what we would do.

"Our objective is to maintain production at Queensferry until the new place is open. Anything beyond that is speculation."

Raymond Wilson, a regional organiser for the Transport and General Workers' Union, urged the company to make its position clear.

He said: "They have always said publicly that the South Queensferry and East Kilbride workforces will transfer to Dunfermline.

£1bn pledge

"If the site is sold before Dunfermline opens, what happens then? They can't lay people off for a year or however long."

The company announced plans to take over the Halbeath site in April last year, pledging to invest more than £1bn.

It said the semiconductor plant would employ 1,350 people, making it one of the biggest in Europe.

However, a global economic downturn and a slowing in demand for mobile phones has forced the company to rethink.