Young's confirms Pinneys closure

YOUNG’S Seafood has confirmed that it is going ahead with its decision to close its Pinneys factory in Annan.
The site employs 450 people, more than four per cent of a town which has a total population of a little under 10,000. But when pitched against the size of the workforce, the figure is probably 20 per cent or more.
The company said it has been unable to find any alternative solution to the closure of the loss making plant and production is expected to end in late December.
It issued the following statement: ‘Young’s Seafood Ltd commenced formal consultation with staff and their representatives at our Young’s Pinneys site on April 16, 2018. This followed a decision by the company to discontinue deli and meals production at the site, as this production was no longer financially sustainable.
‘Following a review of our UK operations, the company proposed to move the remaining natural salmon production undertaken at the Pinneys site to Young’s existing natural salmon facility at our Humberstone Road site in Grimsby.
‘Under the proposals, the Pinneys site in Annan would close towards the end of 2018. Unfortunately, having explored this in detail for some time and despite the consultation process, we have not been able to agree any viable alternatives to the closure of the Pinneys site. Accordingly, the company now intends to progress with its initial proposals.
‘The decision to close the Pinneys site does not mean that collective consultation has ended. We intend to continue to meet with employee representatives on a fortnightly basis to discuss ongoing items, including redeployment opportunities.
‘Simultaneously, we will commence one to one individual consultations with impacted employees in phases and we are committed to working with PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment).’
Young’s described the skilled teams at Annan as ‘a credit to our company’, adding ‘we will work hard to maintain the employment of our colleagues wherever possible’.
‘We have a long history of seafood production in Annan and, given that we have another factory in the town where we are a significant employer, we are committed to continuing to play a role in the local community.’