The wave of jobs losses hitting the UK continued today, with redundancies in sectors as diverse as fashion, auctioneering and food manufacturing.
Luxury goods and fashion firm Burberry plans to close its sewing factory in Rotherham, with the loss of 170 jobs. Work will move to another factory in Castleford, where a further 90 jobs are at risk through planned changes in production. Thirty more jobs are at risk at Keighley, West Yorkshire, the company said.
Burberry said the jobs losses were part of a drive to cut costs by £50m a year. The company had to sell more goods at a discount in December to clear stock, which hit profit margins.
Meanwhile, Dutch-owned food group Vion said it would cut 820 jobs across the UK, including sites in Haverhill in Suffolk, Malton in North Yorkshire and Cambuslang in Scotland.
Alasdair Cox, Vion director of corporate affairs, said: “Due to increasingly competitive pressures from the marketplace, we must continually look to optimising our production facilities.
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“We regret the need for these changes in our activities announced today and have informed our employees and their union representatives of our commitment to consult with them.”
Auction house Christie’s is also planning to cut its workforce. The company, founded in 1766, said it would cut around 200 staff from its 800 London workforce because of an expected 30% drop in sales over the next four months.
