Usdaw slams Milk Link for unexpected redundancies

Usdaw officials have slammed Milk Link over the surprise announcement last night of 93 redundancies at its site in Llandyrnog. The company only took over the site in June, after Dairy Farmers of Britain went into administration, and spoke at the time of developing the site and creating more jobs.

Usdaw National Officer, John Gorle, said:

"Our officials received several phone calls at about 5.30 pm last night to tell us that Milk Link was going to announce at 6 pm that 93 of the 160 jobs at their Llandyrnog site are to be made redundant.

"It is deplorable that in 2009, companies in Britain still behave in this manner, giving us no notice that they are to virtually close a factory which has supported the whole of a North Wales community for decades. We were not even given the chance to be there to support our members in the worst moment of their working lives. The employees, the union, local politicians and the wider community feel misled and let down.

"We now have a meagre 30 day consultation period in which to try and reverse a decision which Milk Link has clearly been planning for months, probably before they even took over the Llandyrnog site. Companies should consult about these momentous decisions which devastate communities before they become a fait accompli.

"Despite this terrible situation, Usdaw members at Llandyrnog can rest assured that the Union will be working with politicians and the local community to do everything possible to reverse this decision, including taking industrial action if that is what our members want.

"We hope that Milk Link can retrieve their reputation by sitting down with us as soon as possible to seriously consider alternatives to these redundancies at the Llandyrnog site."