Pilkington Glass is to close its factory in St Helens, Merseyside, with the loss of 140 jobs, it has announced. The firm, which employs 2,500 staff across the UK, said it decided to end manufacturing at the Cowley Hill site after making "huge losses". In February staff there threatened to strike over plans to freeze salaries or axe pension increases due to the firm's "financial position." The GMB union said the news was a "devastating blow" for the area. Pilkington Glass managing director, Matt Buckley, said the closure followed falling demand for architectural glass in the economic downturn. He said: "This segment of our business is hugely loss-making and we have had to address it in order to protect the rest of our business." It will continue to manufacture float glass at its larger production line at Greengate in St Helens, and other activity including laminating and silvering will continue at Cowley Hill. The firm said it is in discussions over compulsory and voluntary redundancies with employees and their representatives. Charlie Leonard, of the GMB union, said: "We will meet with the company to fully understand the position and to assess what can be done to mitigate the extent of job losses. "The closure of this high tech production plant and the loss of highly skilled, well-paid jobs is yet another major blow to the core of UK manufacturing." Pilkington closed its factory in Basildon, Essex, in 2011 with the loss of 30 jobs.
