Pirelli Carlisle Factory to Close for a Week

News published by the Cumberland News on January 28 indicates that Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle will close for a week in February. The newspaper talks of a phased shutdown at the factory beginning at the end of the month, and this report is the latest in a serious of setbacks experienced by plant workers – since summer 2008 around 80 employee redundancies have been announced, and the factory’s planned Christmas period shutdown was also extended due to a downturn in sales.

The local representative of the workers’ union Unite believes there is “still a future” for the factory. “Someone driving a Porsche or a Ferrari I think would want to replaces their Pirelli tyres with other Pirelli tyres rather than remoulds from a back store,” commented Cumbria Unite leader Alan McGuckin. He added that the current downturn experienced by the UK automotive industry was a temporary blip.