News
Pilgrim’s Food Masters threatens 260 redundancies with planned London site closure
Trade union GMB has expressed its concern about plans to close the Pilgrim’s site in Dean Way, Southall, where hundreds of workers are employed.
With the plans now announced, Pilgrim's will enter a statutory 45-day consultation with staff, with GMB stating that it will "fight tooth and nail for workers to be paid every penny they are due".
The move comes not long after a separate site in Southall on Colette Way was closed in 2022, putting 220 jobs at risk. The Colette Way site was part of Pilgrim’s Noon business, as is the Dean Way plant.
Meanwhile, up to 1,000 Pilgrim's workers were faced with the introduction of a fire and rehire policy at one of the company’s other London factories in March 2023. However, this proposal was dropped following pressure from GMB.
The chilled and frozen meal manufacturer supplies retailers including Morrisons, Aldi and Waitrose and is owned by Brazilian meat processing giant JBS.
Commenting on the potential redundancies, GMB senior organiser Gavin Davies said: "GMB has serious concerns about how this will impact on our members and the local community with the job losses.
“With the previous closure of Colette Way, a further closure to Dean Way has come as a massive blow to our members.
“GMB will fight tooth and nail for workers to be paid every penny they are due.”
Pilgrim’s operates another site in Southall on Windmill Lane, in addition to a nearby plant in Spurway and several others across the UK.
Asked about the decision to close the Dean Way site, a Pilgrim's spokesperson told Food Manufacture: "Over the past few years we have been working hard to transform our meals business, which has seen us secure long-term customer contracts, increase our product offering and improve our operational efficiencies.
"Despite our best efforts, we are continuing to face industry challenges and lower than expected market volumes. In light of these market conditions – and in order to ensure business continuity and protect jobs – we have had no choice but to review the shape of our business.
"Following a thorough assessment, we have identified ways to maximise the capacity across our sites and are proposing to consolidate our total ready meals volume into Attleborough and Windmill Lane. This unfortunately means the proposed closure of our Dean Way site.
"We expect these proposals will place around 260 of our colleagues at risk of redundancy, following an initial consultation period. We’ll be supporting all those affected throughout this process and our intention is to redeploy colleagues to our neighbouring sites wherever possible. We are working hard to limit any impact to our customers, consumers and suppliers during this time."
In other news, gluten free manufacturer Genius Foods has reported its results for the year ending 31 December 2022, with the bakery posting a loss of £2.4m from continuing operations.
