Little Wratting meat plant workforce halved again
Thursday, 25th February 2010.
The latest plans unveiled at Vion Food Group, formerly Grampian Foods, at its Little Wratting meat-processing plant, will see another 180 job losses.
Workers were told of the re-organisation of operations yesterday, just over a year after 470 jobs were axed at the factory.
The current workforce of 387 will be reduced to just over 200, barely a tenth of what the site employed in its heyday 30 years ago.
Until early last year it had been the Haverhill area's largest employer for half a century.
A company statement said a programme of investment was being implemented to build a site which delivered quality products to the UK market, but such changes took time and it regretted the need to make changes in the plant's activities.
The site has a long history of meat production, dating back to the early 20th century when, as Blunts Hall Farm, it was a major supplier to the early Sainsbury stores in London, and when Frank Sainsbury had the huge mansion of Broadlands built overlooking the area.
A partnership between Sainsbury's and canada Packers in the 1960s created HMP, the largest employer for the rapidly-expanding Haverhill, at one stage employing well over 2,000 people.
HMP became solely Sainsbury-owned, and was finally subject to a management buyout in the the 1980s, which created Newmarket Foods.
This was eventually bought by Grampian Country Foods, before Dutch-based Vion became its latest owners.
Workers were told of the re-organisation of operations yesterday, just over a year after 470 jobs were axed at the factory.
The current workforce of 387 will be reduced to just over 200, barely a tenth of what the site employed in its heyday 30 years ago.
Until early last year it had been the Haverhill area's largest employer for half a century.
A company statement said a programme of investment was being implemented to build a site which delivered quality products to the UK market, but such changes took time and it regretted the need to make changes in the plant's activities.
The site has a long history of meat production, dating back to the early 20th century when, as Blunts Hall Farm, it was a major supplier to the early Sainsbury stores in London, and when Frank Sainsbury had the huge mansion of Broadlands built overlooking the area.
A partnership between Sainsbury's and canada Packers in the 1960s created HMP, the largest employer for the rapidly-expanding Haverhill, at one stage employing well over 2,000 people.
HMP became solely Sainsbury-owned, and was finally subject to a management buyout in the the 1980s, which created Newmarket Foods.
This was eventually bought by Grampian Country Foods, before Dutch-based Vion became its latest owners.
Comment on this story
[board listing] [login] [register]
You must be logged in to post messages. (login now)