Welsh Slate hangs in the balance
Posted on August 19th 2009
Slate has formed an integral part of the welsh countryside giving is grey shine to the roofs of many dwellings and the craggy rock face has become home for many creatures, Similarly the material has also provided the livelihood for generations of quarrymen who chip away at the cliff faces to supply the country with valuable building material.
However in later times many quarrymen have suffered multiple redundancies as other building materials are sourced at a cheaper costs and the mechanisation of the industry means that the number of bodies need to manually quarry the stone has also fallen.
The Welsh Slate operations at the former Penrhyn quarry in Bethesda have be warned that further new developments in machinery may lead to redundancies amongst the work force, although the definite number of staff who may lose their jobs is unknown.
The management have already asked staff to take a 10 percent salary cut to help the company in the economic climate and has already had to make 50 redundancies in August last year from the 240 people they employ.
However although the company has had to make cutbacks as the national construction industry slows, Welsh Slate believe that the quarry has a slate reserve that will last another 20 years and combined with the other 3 quarries the company operates, they are confident that they have a strong backbone to underpin their future operations.
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