 The union is concerned the merger may mean jobs go |
A union says hundreds of workers are being kept in the dark over a planned merger between milk suppliers. Express Dairies which is based in Leicester and Arla Foods are currently in talks about joining the two operations.
The statement by the Transport and General Workers Union came as the European Commission agreed to refer the merger between the firms to the UK competition authorities.
Express Dairies' chief executive Neil Davidson has previously said the merger could lead to job cuts of "a number of hundreds".
Possible losses
Arla which is Europe's biggest dairy company produces well-known dairy products such as Anchor and Lurpak as well as milk and cream.
Peter Allenson, national secretary at the T&G union said: "People are getting worried by press speculation about the future of their jobs.
"They have mortgages, responsibilities and commitments but no security from their employers.
"The company [Express Dairies] has said they want to be straight forward.
"We find it very strange therefore, that the chief executive talks of job losses to the media but won't discuss them with us."
The two companies employ 7,000 people Europe-wide.
The Office of Fair Trading will now examine the impact such a merger would have in the UK on the dairy industry.
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