Thomson Scientific, the international science publisher, is proposing to close its patent, editorial and indexing facility in Glasgow, and move the majority of its jobs to India.
Trade union Amicus yesterday pledged to fight the proposal and has entered into a 90-day consultation period with Thomson. The jobs of more than 50 scientific staff are at risk at the international specialist information company, with a further 140 jobs to go at similar facilities in Manchester and London.
The Toronto-based firm's chief executive, Vin Caraher, is understood to have broken the news to workers in person at the company's offices in the SkyPark business complex in Glasgow's Finneston earlier this week.
A company spokesman said yesterday: "Thomson Scientific is exploring a proposal to integrate its patent and literature editorial production processes. The proposal includes an internal transfer of work from Thomson Scientific facilities in Glasgow, Limerick, Manchester, London and the United States to Thomson Scientific facilities in India.
"If the proposal goes ahead, it will be implemented in stages and is expected to take 18 months to complete. It could result in approximately 50 positions being declared redundant in Glasgow.
"Thomson takes its obligations as an employer seriously. We will make every effort to ensure that affected employees are kept informed of progress during consultation and will make sure that we have appropriate staff available to answer employee questions and outline options as they emerge," he added.
The company said it faced stiff competition from aggressive competitors keen to increase their market share. To maintain its marketplace and secure its future, Thomson said radical solutions were required.
The company has been in Glasgow since 2001, and some 80 staff prepare and index commercial reports based on scientific research for a range of companies.
Under the current plans, an entirely new production process is to be adopted with up to 30 of the original workforce to be retained for training and quality control.
Amicus assistant general secretary Tony Burke said: "Thomson Scientific's UK content production workforce of scientists and engineers possess a wealth of experience interpreting patent and literature information.
"Once again, we are seeing highly-skilled UK jobs being exported. This development is driven by the promise of cost savings and bigger profits, which Thomson says it hopes to re-invest in expanding its range of coverage.
"However, what it means is Thomson is prepared to take risks with quality standards in their desperation to slash labour costs in order to retain a market presence.
"As this affects some of our most advanced industries, such as the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, developments such as this will ultimately have a detrimental impact on the UK economy as a whole.
"We will be fighting these proposals and seeking to retain as many of these vital jobs as possible in the UK."
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