manufacture - dyson's reward
WORKERS, DEC 2004 ISSUE
The once-British manufacturer Dyson Vacuums has announced dividend payments of £17 million to the family-owned company for the year 2003.
In 2002 Dyson transferred manufacture from Britain to Malaysia, axeing 800 skilled jobs. Dyson claimed that this was the only way it could break into the US market. In reality it was about using cheap labour and maximising profits, hence the huge dividend.
Dyson doubled its profits in 2003 to £46.3 million. This profit was derived from the technical ingenuity, innovation and design skills of British workers over a 15-year development period, workers whose final reward was redundancy.