General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

Anne
The project I undertook at Ravenhead was a last throw of the dice to bring down the delivered cost of the TV tubes. At the time,1975, the factory was under the threat of closure. The fibreglass factory was then located beside the head office on Prescot Rd.
An extract from Hansard ,

PILKINGTON GROUP (MERSEYSIDE)
HC Deb 17 July 1975 vol 895 cc1911-20
1911
12.37 a.m.

Mr. Leslie Spriggs (St. Helens)

I rise to make the case for the Ravenhead works in St. Helens and briefly to refer to the immediate background to the crisis which lies in the Pilkington Group's intention to close the Ravenhead plant in the town. Such a move would create a job loss of 750, in addition to previous redundancies at that plant and elsewhere in the company in an area where there are already well over 61,000 unemployed.
On 13th May 1975 a meeting was held at the DTI with the then Secretary of State for Industry to discuss the plight of the Ravenhead works. Representatives of the company, the General and Municipal Workers' Union, the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs and the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers were present. The company indicated three conditions for ensuring the continuity of glass making at Ravenhead.
They were, first, a load of at least 1 million sets of glass parts per year, of which 800,000 must come from the home market; secondly, realistic prices, giving an acceptable level of return on the capital employed; thirdly, an organisational structure involving Ravenhead and Skelmersdale within which Pilkington would have the ability to influence events and to plan forward in terms of volume, price and manufacturing programme, including sizes, designs and so on, with reasonable certainty.
It was clear, though, in view of the remarks the company made about losses of around £400,000 per month and the effect on group profitability, that only some form of temporary subsidy would ease the immediate situation. The Secretary of State promised to consider this carefully with the aid of a paper to be written by the civil servants at DTI.
A further meeting between GMWU and the Government was held on 22nd May 1975, to discuss the total situation at Pilkington's. Certain major requests were put to the Secretary of State. They were, first, Government help to obtain information from the company; secondly, Government money to aid production; thirdly, immediate aid on Ravenhead, and a rapid decision on the longer term future of television tubes; fourthly, pressure on BLMC and others to use Pilkington's glass; fifthly, urgent examination of the need for television tubes and flat glass, import controls, and immediate action in the Department of Trade on the dumping of television tubes.