The European Commission (EC) has confirmed that it has cancelled Twinings application for a €12m (£10.6m) grant to build a new factory in Poland, where the new site will eventually cost up to 392 UK jobs.
A UK MEP says the government would be "criminally stupid” not to apply for specialist EU support for Twinings workers set to lose their jobs when tea production transfers to Poland.
Twinings has denied USDAW claims that its new Polish plant is experiencing teething problems, as the union maintains pressure on the firm to repay a controversial grant that helped establish the site.
The European Commission (EC) has questioned the role played by the Polish authorities in Twinings’ application for a controversial €12m grant to build a factory that will see almost 400 UK jobs axed, but has not asked that the money be repaid.
Union bosses representing workers at Twinings' North Shields site are furious at the firm’s decision to send around 80 sales and marketing staff to Portugal for a training event.
The controversial restructuring of Associated British Foods’ (ABF’s) Twinings tea division is progressing to plan with capacity expansion in China “well under way” and construction of a new €45m (£37.7m) factory in Poland planned to commission early next...
Twinings has revealed that UK workers facing redundancy who help establish operations at a new Polish factory will have all their expenses paid, receive extra salary and sightseeing trips.
The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) has slammed a decision by Twinings to encourage staff at its North Shields site to train the Polish workers who will make them redundant.
Twinings has confirmed that a “small number” of staff at its factory in North Shields have accessed confidential payroll details relating to 263 staff without authorisation.
The Trades Union Congress has written to business secretary Vince Cable asking him to investigate whether Twinings received EU funds to “relocate” production from the UK to a new Polish factory, given that UK jobs could be lost as a result.
The EU Commission is seeking “formal guarantees” from the Polish authorities that Twinings is not using an EU funding award to invest in a multi-million euro factory that will see the relocation of UK production facilities abroad.
