Kaiam makes Livingston workforce redundant
310 workers laid off on Christmas Eve
Kaiam, a provider of 100G+ transceivers, headquartered in Silicon Valley, has made 310 of 338 employees redundant at its manufacturing site in Livingston, Scotland. The remaining 28 employees have been retained to help the joint administrators explore a sale of the business.
Local politicians have voiced outrage at the 'disgraceful; treatment of staff, and timing of the shock closure, which was on Christmas Eve.
Joint administrators Blair Nimmo and Alistair McAlinden of KPMG told employees the move had been sparked by declining work levels, high costs of operation at the site and the absence of customer orders.
In 2014, California-based Kaiam was given a £850,000 Scottish Enterprise grant to expand the Livingston site by moving production facilities there from China.
In a story in the Independent, Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay said it was “fundamentally wrong” that a company awarded public money to locate to the area could “leave families high and dry at Christmas”.
Scottish National Party MSP Angela Constance said: “I am extremely disappointed and angry that this company have abandoned their workforce in this way.
“They have walked away from their responsibilities and left many families desperate and desolate this Christmas.”
