With 100 skilled manufacturing jobs under threat, while failed Mayor Jason Perry refuses to act, other councillors have stepped in to persuade the Nike supplier Zotefoams to reconsider its plan to move operations to Vietnam
Croydon’s Green Party councillors have written an open letter to Zotefoams, the Mitcham Road company that provides the go-faster foam for world-beating running shoes, to pause their redundancy process and re-think its plans to shift production to Vietnam.
Zotefoams is the firm established in Croydon more than 100 years ago which has developed the top-secret foam used in the running shoes of some of the world’s top-rated athletes, including Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, the first man to run the 26 miles and 385 yards of the marathon in less than two hours, Keely Hodgkinson, Britain’s 800metres Olympic champion and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the mercurial Norwegian distance runner.
Zotefoams has a long-term contract to supply its products to US sportswear giant Nike, and has been making huge profits from the deal. But as Inside Croydon reported this week, its management wants to cut its labour costs by setting up a factory in Vietnam. At least 100 skilled manufacturing jobs in Croydon will be axed as a result.
Go-faster shoes: Keely Hodgkinson is one of Nike’s star runners, and uses their shoes with hi-tech foam
In a letter to Zotefoams management, Ria Patel, the leader of the Green group at Croydon Town Hall, and her colleague Paul Ainscough, wrote: “The loss of over 100 skilled, local manufacturing jobs would have a significant, serious effect on employees, their families and the wider borough of Croydon.”
The Greens’ letter spoke of how the councillors had been impressed “by the pride, commitment and specialist expertise” of the Croydon workers at Zotefoams who they had met last week.
“We understand that your business remains viable and this proposed reorganisation is not as a result of financial difficulties… This could be an opportunity to build on the company’s expertise in lightweight foams, engineering and recyclable mono-materials, while responding to growing demand for sustainable products.”
Six-point plan: Green councillor Ria Patel has approached Zotefoams
Patel and Ainscough raised concerns about shop-floor safety with a reduced workforce, with proposed job cuts to health and safety roles. “Any restructuring, if at all, should ensure that appropriate staffing and safety standards are maintained.”
And they wrote: “Croydon has a skilled workforce and a strong potential base for partnerships involving technical knowledge, research and product development, quality control, specialist production and sustainable manufacturing.”
The councillors’ letter made six requests of Zotefoams before any rdundancies are finalised.
1, Publish an assessment of alternatives to job losses, including additional work, contracts and products that could be developed or expanded at the Croydon site.
2, Consult with employees and trade unions fully on alternatives to redundancy, including retraining, redeployment, voluntary measures and, if redundancies remain unavoidable, enhanced redundancy packages.
3, Seek support from Croydon Council, the Greater London Authority and relevant UK funding programmes to identify potential support for manufacturing, skills, research and product development.
4, Set measurable targets for the future of the Croydon site: including, but not limited to, retaining local jobs, using recycled materials, developing sustainable products and product recovery and recycling.
5, Hold a public meeting with the employees, trade union representatives and residents to explain the proposed changes and the business case for them, alongside reporting on the alternatives considered.
6, We also urge you to engage fully with the workforce and recognised trade union, GMB, throughout the consultation.
And the Greens’ letter concluded: “Zotefoams has a long-standing presence in Croydon and a highly-skilled workforce. We believe there is an opportunity to show that commercial efficiency, environmental innovation and responsible employment can reinforce one another.”
Read more: Nike’s super shoes foam factory looks to cut 100 Croydon jobs
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
At the council’s Scrutiny & Overview Committee just a few days ago, Perry answered a planted question with “I think for businesses looking to invest we are very much looking to remodel our inward investment opportunities here as a borough to encourage inward investment into the borough because that inward investment will bring the jobs and skills that we need for our local residents which will provide the employment which will help to support those residents who are potentially in need.”
A load of waffle, said by our Mayor who can’t be arsed to help people concerned about a local company exporting jobs to Vietnam.
“Listening to Croydon”? Cocking a deaf ‘un, more like it
This is very sad. However, Croydon is a small part of a £160m international group with an already constructed brand new facility in Vietnam. Perhaps the Mayor just read the accounts and the Greens did not realise it was too late. Perhaps the Mayor knew that the Council was bankrupt and the Greens failed to realise it had no money to support any business in the borough. Perhaps the Greens thought they could bully a large International group or perhaps they just want to make the unfortunate employees feel wanted whilst making political capital out of a sad situation.
“Perhaps the Mayor just read the accounts” – chance would be a fine thing. Which accounts show it’s “too late” for the Croydon plant?
Mayor Perry is consistently uninformed. Not “ill-informed”. He’s uninformed to the point of ignorance.
When the town centre multiplex was about to close, piss-poor Perry only found out through Inside Croydon’s reporting.
Purley Pool? It has taken him two years to work out that his council cannot sign a Section 106 agreement with a company based in the British Virgin Islands.
With Croydon BID, he only realised how he compromised himself by taking a directorship when it came to Croydon BID needed to renew its status.
Perry barely bothers with the accounts of his own family business. The chances of him informing himself by reading Zotefoams’ accounts is remote to the point of fantasy.