Tetley to shed drivers
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Juliet Parish • Leeds brewer Joshua Tetley & Son is asking its 42 drivers and 100 warehouse staff to consider taking voluntary redundancy.
The move is part of a threeyear plan to slash its workforce by a quarter.
The Carlsberg-Tetley subsidiary is reassuring drivers that its plan to cut 170 of 650 jobs does not include doing away with its ageing in-house vehicle fleet, It says that even if it gets most of the 50 voluntary redundancies it wants this year from drivers, it will train other staff to fill their jobs.
"In-house transport is important to us because we believe it allows us to provide a more flexible service demanded by our trade customers and to better control our fixed costs," says a company spokesman.
Currently three outside contractors—Archbolds at Morley, TJ Smiths at York and Turners at Allerton Bywater handle half of its Yorkshire and North East haulage to pubs, clubs and trade customers.
If the Tetley bitter and Castlemaine brewer does not get enough voluntary redundancies, it will have to make compulsory cuts. But it doubts it will have to take this step, because it claims its redundancy terms are so good. For example, 50-yearold employees who have served around 27 years at the company can expect around £40,000.