Courtaulds had two thousand workers

It was the end of an era for Carrick’s Courtaulds factory in February 1981 when the East Antrim Times reported a final round of redundancies.
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd Mar 2014, 08:50 BST

A further 306 jobs were lost at the one million sq ft factory which employed as many as 2,000 workers at its peak.

Carrick had already lost 1100 jobs at the ICI factory.

The East Antrim Times explained that the Courtaulds workers had learnt of the latest job losses through an article which had appeared in a newspaper in Liverpool.

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A trade union spokesman was quoted as saying that the Courtaulds factories at Aintree and Carrickfergus were closing.

As a result, the issue was raised by David Alton, Liberal MP for Edgehill, at Westminster.

Management at the Carrick factory said that the “bottom had fallen out of the man-made fibre industry with the parent company calling for immediate closure.

Carrick mayor Councillor Sam Sims had a visit from the Courtaulds manager who said that the company had been losing money for several years.

Deputy mayor Alderman Ken McFaul said that Carrick would soon be a “ghost town”.

Related topics:CarrickCarrickfergusLiverpoolICI