Nearly 600 jobs are likely to be lost after food giant Nestlé announced a major shake-up of its 海角视频 production that will see the closure of its plant in Newcastle.
The company is planning to consolidate is 海角视频 manufacturing at its York and Halifax sites but will close the former Rowntree plant at Fawdon by the end of 2023.
The moves will put 475 jobs at risk at Fawdon while another 98 are at risk in York.
Nestlé said the proposed changes would “create a more efficient manufacturing footprint” in the 海角视频 and have been announced as early as possible to allow time for consultation with workers and unions.
The multinational company acknowledged that the closure of the Fawdon would have a major impact on the area and pledged to support the local community.
But unions and politicians have condemned the cuts, which will mean the end to more than 60 years of production at the Fawdon site. The factory, which first opened in 1958, makes all the Rolos in the world and also produces a range of sweets that includes Fruit Pastilles, Mini Eggs, Caramac and Munchies.
Nestlé said: “Our Fawdon factory is home to many smaller, low-growth brands and maintains a diverse and complex mix of production techniques. In contrast, our factories at York and Halifax have clearer specialisms and manufacture some of Nestlé’s biggest brands.
“The decision to propose Fawdon’s closure follows significant investment and a sustained effort by the factory team to reduce that complexity and introduce new products in recent years. The skilled and dedicated team at Fawdon have worked tirelessly to deliver those changes and these proposals are absolutely no reflection on their efforts.
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“If these proposals go ahead, we would expect, in future, to be manufacturing a higher volume of products overall while operating a smaller number of factories.
“We do not underestimate the impact that the closure of Fawdon factory would have on the local area and, as part of the consultation, we want to work with the local community to find ways that we can support the area and our employees if these proposals were to go ahead.”
As part of the plans, Nestlé said it would be investing £20.2m into its York site and £9.3m at Halifax, though a further 98 jobs have been put at risk at York.
It said the business case behind the changes was “compelling” and would keep the company competitive in a challenging market.
But Ross Murdoch, GMB national officer, said: “To ruin hundreds of lives in a ruthless pursuit of profits, to the very workers who’ve kept the company going during a global pandemic, is sickening.
“Nestle is the largest food producer in the world, with astronomical profits. It can afford to treat workers right. Instead, they’ve allowed factories to deteriorate, outsourced production overseas and now slashed 600 jobs.
“It’s corporate greed at its worst – GMB and Unite will fight for every job.”
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Joe Clarke, Unite national officer for the food and drink industry, said: “The news about Nestle’s plans for its respective sites in Newcastle and York is a cruel body blow to the dedicated workforces, their families and, more widely, the regional economies.
“We will be asking for an urgent meeting with the management to ascertain the business rationale for these decisions from a multi-national company which is highly profitable.
“The fact these announcements have come during a global pandemic is particularly bitter and heartless.
“Unite will be liaising closely with the GMB union to strongly campaign against these misguided plans whose only motive seems to be increasing profits.”
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell said: “Today’s announcement that 63 years of chocolate manufacturing in Fawdon could soon come to an end is absolutely devastating. This will be an extremely worrying time for loyal workers who produce some of the best-known names on the sweet aisle and have helped keep the nation fed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is particularly difficult to accept that the world’s largest food company needs to make hundreds of Newcastle workers redundant at a time when it has just achieved its strongest quarterly growth in a decade.
“I will be meeting urgently with the GMB union and employees impacted to discuss how we respond to the proposals.”
Jobs were lost at the Fawdon plant in 2018 when production of Blue Riband biscuits was switched to Poland. The 73 redundancies were less than the 110 originally planned after the plant secured other work.