1.Bakkavor
More than 300 Bakkavor jobs were under threat after the chilled food manufacturer lost a significant amount of business from Tesco, according to the GMB union in January.
Bakkavor confirmed that about 280 weekly paid and 30 salaried staff were at risk of redundancy but the firm hoped to keep redundancies below 100 by adjusting shift patterns.
The redundancy consultation affected Bakkavor Meals employees who work across the company’s three Park Royal sites – Cumberland, Elveden and Premier Park – in London.
GMB senior organiser Tony Warr said the affected workers were being put on notice of redundancy following the loss of business from Tesco.
“Bakkavor Meals, Park Royal, has advised the GMB of the loss of £32M worth of Tesco business (mash and other potato lines) equivalent to 16% of turnover,” he said.
In a bid to mitigate job losses, he said Bakkavor had a proposed a new shift pattern made possible by growth in houmous volumes.
It was hoped that the new shift pattern would reduce job losses to 77, partly by removing agency staff and moving fixed-term contract workers into permanent positions.
But as part of this plan, the union warned that employees would have to accept changes to employment terms and conditions, including reduced hours and lower pay.
The consultation process is due to last 45 days. A Bakkavor spokesman declined to comment on whether the company had lost business with Tesco.