Food Firm To Cut One Fifth Of Its Workforce

There's bad news for hundreds of workers at Bakkavor. The Icelandic chilled food producer has announced plans to cut nearly one fifth of their workforce. The large company has over 30 factories spread throughout the country. Their factories at Spalding, Kirton, and Holbeach will undergo a major reconstruction with a possible 400 positions becoming redundant.

They have blamed general economic decline for their problems. A 90-day consultation has been launched to help their 2,000 employees handle the change.

Bakkavor had already revealed a serious financial problem last month. Nearly £140 million of their deposits were trapped in, Kaupthing, one of the collapsed Icelandic banks. They explained that they were fairly confident that the deposits could be recovered, but that the actual timescale of the recovery would be uncertain.

They have not confirmed the actual number of jobs that will be cut, but the general understanding is that 400 will be let go. This is believed to be a part of their larger plans to reconstruct the ailing company by improving efficiency and changing production to handle new demand.

The factories at Spalding, Holbeach, and Kirton were focused on processing salads, salad dressings, sandwiches, vegetables, and dips. The current plan would transfer smaller portions of these operations to other factories.

Andy Worth, the GMB union regional officer, stated that he'd attempt to keep the job losses at Bakkavor as low as possible. That said, he acknowledge that it was a tough time for the food industry.

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