Food Manufacture - 'What are you made of'
WORKERS, JAN 2006 ISSUE
Weetabix, which employs 1,700 people in Northamptonshire in Burton Latimer near Kettering, and at Corby, has declared that 112 jobs will go. In November 2003 the company was taken over by the US firm Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, for £642 million. At the time Sir Richard George, the previous owner and chairman, said there would be no job losses, declaring, "in fact quite the opposite".
The news came as a shock to Kettering and Corby workers, who have described the cuts as a kick in the teeth, and who fear that more cuts are in the pipeline. Dave Thom, the Area Organiser for Usdaw, the shopworkers' union, has said the union will be campaigning against the cuts.
Weetabix, which started up in 1932, is one of Britain's biggest cereals manufacturers. They make breakfast standbys such as Ready Brek and Alpen and their new marketing campaign asks "What Are You Made Of?"
The American venture capital company Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst owns Premier Foods UK, which in turn owns the manufacturers of a wide product range, including Branston and Ambrosia.