Grampian Closure
- From: "Pat Gardiner" <patgardiner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 10:02:50 +0000 (UTC)
Pat's Note: We are now getting the fall-out from the State Veterinary
Services' decision not to make PMWS a notifiable disease in 1999.
Faced with an epidemic, they hid it up, just as they did with elements of
BSE a few years earlier and the sources of CSF and FMD in 2000 and 2001. It
was the same officials - and they are still there, still making the same
mistakes. They are dangerous.
Instead of encouraging a controlled decline, as companies and producers left
a failing unprofitable industry with sick pigs, there has been a constant
stream of over optimistic reports seeking to encourage new people and
investment into the pork production business.
A much smaller industry with less pig movements might have got a notifiable
PMWS under control.
The only way anyone can make money now out of sick pigs is by engineering a
compensated cull or by selling "pups" to suckers.
http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/news/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=News&tBrand=EADOnline&tCategory=znews&itemid=IPED15%20Mar%202006%2022%3A12%3A29%3A060
Despair as 400 jobs go at meat factory
16 March 2006 | 08:12
LIZ HEARNSHAW
ALMOST 400 staff at a Suffolk meat factory face redundancy today after
bosses announced the site is to close.
Grampian Country Pork's plant at Elmswell, near Bury St Edmunds, is to shut
on June 14 following a consultation with its 380 staff.
Officials from the company, which also runs a site in Little Wratting, near
Haverhill, have blamed the "deeply regrettable" decision on increasing
costs.
The move is the latest massive jobs blow to hit Suffolk.
Television maker Sanyo has just announced up to 150 jobs would be lost at
its Lowestoft factory - a bitter blow for the economy of the town, where
more than 1,000 workers at Unilever and Rentokil Initial already face the
axe.
Speaking last night, Neil Hammond, MD of Grampian's pork business, said the
Elmswell closure plans had come following an "extensive review".
"As a result of continued manufacturing overcapacity within the pork sector
combined with rising costs, which we have to date been unable to recoup, and
our drive to improve the efficiencies within our business, we regrettably
have had to make this announcement," he said.
"We deeply regret this proposed closure and have informed our employees and
their representatives of our commitment to consult with them."
A spokesman for the company said the workers affected would be consulted on
ways of avoiding redundancy, including securing alternative employment.
And he moved to reassure staff at the plant in Little Wratting, saying the
announcement would have "no impact" on other sites, which all operate
independently.
However, the news has been greeted with horror by both factory workers and
MPs.
One worker, who did not want to be named, said the closure would have a
devastating impact on many families - particularly those where there is more
than one person employed at Grampian.
"The reaction was one of total shock. There are whole families working up
there," he said. "We were in a 30-day consultation period over the loss of
35 jobs, and today they came back and said the whole place was closing on
June 14."
David Ruffley, MP for Bury and the surrounding area, described the news as
"awful" at a time when unemployment is rising.
He said: "If it turns out to be 380 jobs, then that's a huge dent in the
local workforce and is bound to affect a very large number of families. They
will be wondering what the jobs market is like at the moment and
unfortunately unemployment is slightly up. This is not a good time."
He added that fears the East Anglian pork industry was being brought to its
knees by a flood of cheap and inferior imports were being realised, saying:
"This is what I hear from farmers and producers right across Suffolk.
"I have a very large concentration of pig farms in my constituency - one of
the largest nationally - and they make the point about very cheap meat being
imported.
"A lot of our pork is coming from Spain which is a heck of a long way for it
to travel - and it may contain far more preservatives and it will have been
frozen as well."
The MP called on big supermarkets and consumers alike to source meat from
local producers, adding: "Their dozen sausages from Spain may be a few pence
cheaper but the locally produced ones will be fresher, may well have fewer
preservatives and will have cost far less in environmental terms."
John Dugmore, chief executive of the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, said it
was hard to predict what overall affect the closure would have.
He said: "From the chamber's point of view this is a great loss, not only to
Elmswell, but to the whole of Suffolk.
"The factory is very important to Elmswell in terms of employment, but it
does slight Suffolk because at the moment it's an area that is on the up.
"But Grampian is a food manufacturing company and there are many other
employers in that field so I am sure those people who lose their jobs will
get back into employment quickly.
"It is a great loss to any region, although it is hard to say what overall
effect it will have on the economy, which is currently booming."
A spokesman for the T&G Union said last night: "We would want to make sure
that any consultation with the trade unions over this closure is meaningful
and that as part of the consultation the company make clear the reasons why
they have taken this drastic step and indicate that they will, if
appropriate, listen to alternative proposals."
Regards
Pat Gardiner
www.go-self-sufficient.com
.
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