Anglesey: Chicken factory threatens to make all workers redundant
730 jobs are at risk at chicken processing factory 2 Sisters on Anglesey.
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS for the island met with company bosses this morning and confirms that the whole plant is threatened with closure.
Mr ap Iorwerth said: “The news that 2 Sisters has decided to start a consultation on closing its plant in Llangefni is truly devastating and my thoughts go out to the more than 700 staff who’ve been informed that their jobs are at risk.
“I’ve tabled an emergency question to be discussed in the Senedd this afternoon. Intense and urgent action will be required from the Welsh Government in response to this announcement.”
Mr ap Iorwerth said he hopes the company will change its mind.
“Everything has to be done to see if (this) is possible – to save jobs,” he said, before adding:
“But following today’s conversation I wouldn’t want to raise hopes. I will fight for as much help as possible for the workers, working with the Welsh Government and Anglesey Council.”
Energy costs
Virginia Crosby MP for Anglesey called the news “devastating” for the employees who are facing redundancy.
Ms Crosby said: “I was briefed by the company this morning and it appears it has been badly affected by a range of issues. Energy cost rises in April is a major part of the decision to consult on a closure to protect other parts of the business.
“I will be speaking to the unions very soon and I would support a task group being set up to help navigate what is happening and what could happen, if the factory closes.
“I am also meeting with the Chancellor this morning and I will be raising what is happening on the island with him as a matter of urgency.”
In the meantime, said Ms Crosby: “I will do all I can to work with the company, the unions and the council as this process takes place.”
Catastrophic
The Unite union has vowed to fight the Llangefni plant closure which it says would be “catastrophic” for North Wales economy and the local community
Peter Hughes, Unite Wales Regional Secretary said: “The closure of 2 Sisters would be a catastrophic blow to the economy and local communities of Anglesey and North Wales as a whole.
“The company has dropped this bombshell on its workforce without consultation and without any notice whatsoever. To say that our members are outraged at the way they have been treated is an understatement.
“Unite will fight to reverse this decision. Urgent talks are scheduled for tomorrow and 2 Sisters have big questions to answer. Every possibility of reversing this decision will be explored by the union. We intend to force the company to reconsider and we will demand that the Welsh Government joins the campaign to save the plant. This decision cannot be accepted.”
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February the first.
They’ll be fine. They can all transfer to the well paid nuclear plant jobs that Atomic Kitten has lined up for them.
Ms Crosbie asked her PM and he said that DWP has procedures in place to help in cases like this.
All good there then.
2 Sisters have form with this sort of thing. This is a major food manufacturing entity totally reliant on the retail supermarket chains. It feeds low cost fodder into the retailers so they can make handsome profits. This suggests that much of its supply chain draws from those big industrial farming enterprises, millions of chickens in small sheds full of crap and dead birds. Given Welsh government’s capacity for buying up £multi million farms it should take this site over after closure and re start as a food enterprise drawing its supplies from healthier sources thus capitalising on the drive… Read more »