Dawnfresh Seafoods announces Uddingston plant closure

10-Sep-2021 - Last updated on 10-Sep-2021 at 09:41 GMT

Dawnfresh is to close its uddingston plant, reducing the number of roles across the business by 80

Dawnfresh Seafoods has announced plans to close its Uddingston production facility near Glasgow as part of a £5m investment into the expansion of its site in Arbroath.

A minimum 45-day consultation has been launched with staff at the Uddingston plant, with the manufacturer incentivising production teams to move to the new expanded site in Arbroath.

Dawnfresh is to create 150 new permanent production roles under the new plans available for permanent or agency staff at Uddingston to apply for. However, the Uddingston site currently employs 230 permanent production staff.

The fish firm said that any reduction in total headcount would likely be a result of people choosing not to apply for a new role and a slimmed down management structure. No current roles at the Arbroath plant are at risk under the plans.

‘Platform for growth’

Managing director Raleigh Salvesen (pictured) said: “For the remainder of this year and until the move next year, our operations at Uddingston will very much continue as normal. The plan to expand facilities at Arbroath will provide a platform for future growth and help Dawnfresh to adapt to a changing and highly competitive business sector.

“This move is critical if we are to meet our objective of keeping seafood production jobs in Scotland. It will be sad to close our factory in Uddingston but we are incentivising our team to join us on this journey and hope many of our experienced and skilled staff join us in Arbroath.”

To support employees to make the move, Dawnfresh is offering a relocation allowance, access to local area support from Angus Council and protection of current pay and conditions.

Alternative employment

For those who do not wish to make the move, the company is engaging with employees, unions, skills agencies and North and South Lanarkshire Councils to help people find new jobs in the area. The company is also seeking to work with government and other agencies to find an alternative use of the current site in Uddingston to retain employment in the area.

Garry Price, supply chain director at Dawnfresh, added: “Our staff are our most valuable resource, and we are encouraging as many of our skilled food production team as possible to make this journey with us next year.

“We are encouraging all of our production staff, including our temporary agency staff, to apply for one of the positions in Angus.”

Dawnfresh aimed to have the new site fully operational by the middle of 2022.