Around 74 people could be at risk of losing their jobs after employees of McCain Foods were informed by the company that there have been changes that have been proposed with regard to the operations at the dry and cold stores of the company at their Scarborough facility.
According to the Corporate Affairs Director for McCain Foods, Bill Bartlett, the McCain Scarborough site cold store, which was constructed more than 45 years ago, was coming to the end of its life. It could no longer be adequately serviced and thus, couldn’t be maintained and operated economically. Due to this and the results of a review of the site’s dry and cold store needs, he said, the company was proposing that Scarborough stores, as they currently are, be shut down in the next few months and that the work being done at the stores be outsourced to a third party with the necessary expertise. This, he said, was important for the sake of ensuring the long-term sustainability of the entire facility at Scarborough. However, the company was still going to carry out further consultation on the issue.
He also added that a proposal had been forwarded to retain some of the roles to enable an integrated operation of the stores but, any such positions would only be at a much lower level. For this reason, the company was engaging with the employees in some consultation.
The corporate affairs director added that the company’s employees would still be treated fairly and with respect during the process of the consultation and that the company will even organise for those affected to receive guidance and advice from professionals. This would include guidance on how they could get an outplacement programme that would help them to find jobs in other places.
With regards to the company’s overall future in the area, Mr Bartlett stated that the company was going to look into the possibility of updating its facility at the Scarborough site in order to raise its manufacturing capacity. This, he said, was important to enable McCain Foods to meet the growing demand for its products. The proposal, he added, was still subject to consultation but, in the event that it went through, it could present other options which could help in easing some of the space constraints that had been noted within the company’s site in Scarborough.