263 jobs face axe at Twinings North Shields tea factory

Nov 3 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

North Tyneside MP Stephen Byers has lent his support to early efforts to prevent the job losses.

He said: “The proposed closure of this plant must be resisted. We simply cannot afford to lose this number of jobs.

“I have already spoken to the trade unions representing the workers at the factory and we shall jointly be seeking an urgent meeting with the company to try and get them to change their minds.”

Twinings has said one third of its UK production will move abroad, with the remaining work based at the Andover site. The factory’s closer location to southern ports mean it was favoured over the North Shields site.

Head of manufacturing Peter Willetts said: “We understand that this announcement will come as a shock for our employees at North Shields who could not have done more for our business.

“This is a very difficult but necessary step which will allow Twinings to remain competitive in our markets worldwide and take full advantage of future growth opportunities.

“Whilst we have had some overseas manufacturing for decades, the majority of our tea is imported and packaged here in the UK prior to being re-exported; and this is not efficient.

“As two-thirds of our sales are overseas, we need to locate our manufacturing operations in cost effective locations, closer to markets.

“If the proposal is to go ahead every effort will be made to support North Shields employees including a retraining programme, outplacement support, opportunities for other roles within the group, and enhanced redundancy packages.”

The company insisted its UK tea sales would still be based on tea packaged in Andover.