2 Sisters’ Smethwick site to close with 250 job losses

The manufacturer redeployed 290 of the site’s 630 workers to other sites in the West Midlands, it said. 2 Sisters was hopeful roles will be found elsewhere in the company for the remaining 90 workers at the Smethwick site, it said.

2 Sisters said it was with much regret that it had to close one of its original sites, but it had done its best to find as many alternative roles as possible for workers.

The Unite union said 2 Sisters’ decision to close the site was “very disappointing”​. It claimed the factory will close on June 23.

‘Disappointing news’​

Unite national officer for the food industry Julia Long said: “Unite can confirm that the Smethwick site will close on June 23, which is very disappointing news for the workforce.​

“However, given the company’s business case that this site was ageing and needed drastic modernisation to conform environmentally, we believe that this was the only achievable outcome. Unite always has the welfare of its members as the top priority and we are continuing to support them in the days and weeks ahead.”​

The union claimed its intervention had helped to save 250 jobs at the 2 Sisters site, while claiming 300 workers still faced redundancy. But, 2 Sisters disputed the claims, saying 250 workers took voluntary redundancy.

‘Ageing’ site​

2 Sisters revealed plans to close the “ageing” ​chicken processing site​ last month.

At the time, a 2 Sisters spokesman said: “The factory at Bevan Way, Alpha Business Park, is ageing and has significant challenges to meet the standards required by ourselves and our customers.”​

Unite pledged to mitigate the impact of the factory closure by devising a plan​ to save as many jobs as possible.

The Smethwick site is a chicken cutting processor exclusively. It supplies retailers, other manufacturers, and other 2 Sisters sites.