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More than 450 Morrisons packing staff facing redundancy
Vertically integrated supermarket Morrisons has put more than 450 fruit packing jobs in Bradford at threat but is set to open up more than 400 roles elsewhere.
The move comes amid efforts to consolidate its operations, with the Cutler Heights centre in Bradford set to become a pet food manufacturing plant.
Currently, 456 of the 469 members of staff employed in Bradford are at risk of redundancy, although Morrisons has said it will re-hire as many impacted people as possible at either Thrapston, Northamptonshire, or its Wakefield distribution centre.
The supermarket chain has said that more than 400 roles will be created at the newly refurbished Thrapston site and in Wakefield.
The consolidation is designed to improve efficiency, create savings for the business and cut out 650,000 food air miles each year.
"Regrettably, the proposal to consolidate two sites means that there are 456 colleagues at Cutler Heights who are at risk of redundancy,” a Morrisons spokesperson said.
“We will do everything we can to employ those colleagues in other Morrisons manufacturing, logistics and retail sites in the local area.”
Morrisons financial results
The announcement comes shortly after Morrisons released its Q2 trading update where group like-for-like sales rose by 1%.
Meanwhile, total sales (excluding fuel) rose by 3.1% and wholesale sales increased by 20%.
Morrisons’ vertically integrated supply chain differs from a number of its rivals, meaning that the group has its own food manufacturing capabilities.
Reflecting on the results, chief executive David Potts said: “Although we are still in the foothills of our new journey, we are making good progress in our plans to develop a broader, stronger Morrisons built on traditional values with modern methods.
“We are making very good progress on both our £700 million three-year cost reduction programme and our plans to deliver £500 million of working capital improvements over the medium term.”
In related news, Morrisons has partnered with a farming data firm as part of its plans to reach Net Zero by 2030.
