Bleak day as 1,600 UK job losses announced

Bleak day as 1,600 UK job losses announced


The UK employment industry took a knock today, with the announcement that over 1,600 jobs would be lost across the drugs, water, car and chocolate sectors. 
The biggest cuts hit a Cadbury factory in Somerdale, Somerset, which is to close with the loss of 400 jobs despite hopes that new owners Kraft would save it. 
Cadbury announced in 2007 that it planned to close Somerdale and transfer work to Poland with the loss of 500 jobs.

Around 100 workers have been made redundant but Kraft's ownership had offered hope that the remaining jobs could be saved.

However, those hopes were dashed when the US firm said it was "unrealistic" to reverse Cadbury's plans to shut the site and announced the factory would close by 2011.
Kraft, whose five-month battle for control of the confectioner was sealed earlier this month, had pledged to retain the plant.

But today it said Cadbury had already spent £100 million on building new facilities in Poland and most production would be transferred by the middle of this year.

Unite's national officer Jennie Formby, said: "It is with great anger that we heard today's announcement by Kraft that the Somerdale closure will go ahead as planned.

"Anger that Kraft deliberately misled many hundreds of decent men and women in Keynsham by saying that they would keep Somerdale open, despite Unite making very clear to them as early as September that this seemed impossible with the timeline for closure already seemingly set in stone.

"Anger that their thirst for public approval during the most unpopular takeover we've seen in recent times drove Kraft to ignore those warnings and instead choose to state repeatedly that the site would not close.

"This sends the worst possible message to the 6,000 other Cadbury workers in the UK and Ireland. It tells them that Kraft care little for their workers and have contempt for the trade union that represents them”.
Meanwhile, car giant Vauxhall said it would shed 154 administrative jobs in the UK on top of previously announced cuts of 369 at its Luton factory, which builds vans.

Welsh Water, which provides water and sanitation services to 1.2 million households in Wales and parts of England, said it would axe 300 jobs during the next five years in an attempt to reduce costs.
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline announced plans to cut up to a third of jobs at its UK research and development site in Harlow, Essex, raising the threat of up to 380 job losses.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said of the job cuts announced today: "These job losses show the economy is still on the knife edge. City bonuses may be back and the economy is technically growing once again, but the downturn is far from over for the millions struggling to find work, forced to take work well below their capabilities or who fear for their jobs.

"The Government must resist calls to take the knife to public spending - which would cause further job losses and give us a double-dip recession."

Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB, said: "It is going to be a long, hard slog before the economy recovers and employment starts growing again.

"These job losses underline the need to keep the public sector buoyant until the economy is properly recovered”.