 Sixty workers are set to lose their jobs |
Staff at the doomed Boddingtons brewery in Strangeways, Manchester, are being forced to take redundancy after a management u-turn, their union says. The Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) says brewers Interbrew has reneged on redeploying staff from the site which stopped brewing this month.
Interbrew decided to switch production to Salmesbury near Preston, and Wales, saying the brewery was not viable.
The BBC is still awaiting a response from the company.
The TGWU claims Manchester staff were told there was a chance of retraining and redeployment to the site at Salmesbury as promises of early retirement had been made to 35 workers at Preston which would have allowed the transfers.
TGWU Regional Organiser Franny Joyce said: "How come this workforce, who were told by the Interbrew chief executive that their dedication, commitment and skills were beyond question, is now surplus to requirement?
Closure plans
"Why is that workers at the Salmesbury brewery in Preston, who had been promised early retirement to allow the transfer of the Manchester workers, have now been told they can't retire?"
Brewers Interbrew announced its closure plans in September 2004 for the site which employs 60 workers.
The 226-year-old Strangeways site is due to close in two days' time.
Mr Joyce said he hoped consumers would take note of the way the company had behaved.
"Rarely has a company acted with such bad grace and consumers should be made aware of how the workers have been treated," he said.
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