Vion to cut 820 jobs
Published:27-January-2009
By Datamonitor staff writer
Dutch-owned food firm Vion will eliminate 470 jobs at its Haverhill site in Suffolk, 200 at Malton in North Yorkshire, and 150 at Cambuslang in Scotland.
The job cuts in Scotland are due to the loss of business supplying food products to supermarket chain Marks & Spencer. The job losses in Suffolk and North Yorkshire are due to the restructuring of Vion's abattoir and cooked meats businesses.
The abattoir, butchery and parts of retail operations at Haverhill will be closed and transferred to Malton. In addition, the company also plans to move all cooked meat production from Malton to Haverhill.
The BBC quoted a spokesperson for the trade union Unite as saying: "Unite is seeking urgent talks with the Vion Group. Our priority is to resist compulsory redundancies and safeguard jobs."
The Press Association quoted Alasdair Cox, director of corporate affairs, as saying: "Due to increasingly competitive pressures from the marketplace, we must continually look to optimizing our production facilities to ensure sound foundations for the development of our UK business. In creating dedicated facilities at Malton and Haverhill, we will also be investing in both plants to build the business."
