Over 450 Morrisons jobs in danger because it closes Bradford packing website

Wm Morrison, the grocery store group, is planning to shut certainly one of its produce centres in Bradford, placing greater than 450 jobs in danger.

Cutler Heights, which was the Bradford-based group’s first produce website, provides 59 fruit merchandise and 115 million packets of fruit a yr.

Morrisons stated that it could be “consolidating” and shifting all operations to its different fruit packing website in Thrapston, Northamptonshire.

The transfer is about to happen within the second half of this yr and would put the roles of 456 staff in danger.

The grocery store stated it could attempt to make use of these folks in different produce, logistics and retail websites within the native space.

Morrisons started as a stall promoting eggs and butter opened by William Morrison in 1899. It was purchased by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the American non-public fairness agency, in a deal value about £7 billion on the finish of 2021.

The deal left the retailer with £6.6 billion of debt, which, amid rising rates of interest, has prompted claims that it has been unable to compete with rivals on the worth of groceries.

A Morrisons spokesman stated: “After very cautious overview and analysis, we suggest to maneuver forward with a consolidation at Thrapston. Regrettably, the proposal to consolidate two websites signifies that there are 456 colleagues at Cutler Heights who’re prone to redundancy.

“We are going to do all the things we will to make use of these colleagues in different Morrisons manufacturing, logistics and retail websites within the native space.”