Bulmers Job Cuts a Body Blow to Hereford and Lacking Sense, Says Unite

LONDON, December 16/PRNewswire/ -- The announcement that 54 workers at the Bulmers bottling plant in
Hereford are to be made redundant has been decried by the workers' union,
Unite, as a body blow to the town.

The decision was made by Bulmers parent company, Scottish and Newcastle,
which is cutting the jobs and moving the bottling process to its Tadcaster
plant in the north west. This is the second time that the company has
announced the closure of this part of the business. They now intend to review
all packaging positions, not just the bottling line, when selecting for
redundancy. Unite says the decision to cut jobs lacks sense given that the
plant is the most successful part of the brewing company in the UK.

Commenting on the job losses, Simon Powell, Regional Industrial Officer
said: "This is a very heavy blow to the Bulmers workers and the people of
Hereford. Coming at this time of year, a great many workers and their
families are going to have a miserable Christmas and a gloomy start to 2009.

"We have to question the decision of the management at group level in
taking capacity out of the Hereford plant as its cider product will now need
to be transported by road to Tadcaster adding to the global carbon foot
print.

"Unite and local management representatives have put proposals to the
company that would save them well over one million pounds and make full use
of the Bulmers bottling line, yet they have still chosen to move business out
of the area. This makes no sense to us."

Around 350 workers are employed at the Bulmers plant in Hereford, making
it one of the town's largest employers. The 54 workers facing redundancy have
been offered only 30 days notice. Unite believes the workers should be
entitled to the full 90 days given that this decision was not taken by local
Bulmers management but globally and the decision is part of a global
restructuring exercise.

"Our priority now is to meet with management to tell them that we do not
accept their decision as it stands plus we are also extremely concerned that
they are offering only the local plant redundancy terms and the bare minimum
in redundancy notice. It is of paramount importance that we persuade Scottish
and Newcastle to observe best practice when it comes to consultation with the
workforce and redundancy terms," ended Simon Powell.

Source: Unite the Union

For further information contact Simon Powell on +44(0)1432-845-884

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