A new taskforce has been set up to help the hundreds of workers who are set to lose their jobs when Newcastle’s Nestlé factory shuts down.
The sweets giant is due to close its Fawdon site in 2023, with around 475 jobs going as production of beloved treats that have been made on Tyneside for decades is moved to plants in the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, and West Yorkshire. City leaders, trade unions, and the government have now sat down with Nestlé chiefs in the hope of finding ways to protect the livelihood of factory staff and find a new occupier to take over the Rowan Drive site.
Newcastle City Council confirmed that the new taskforce met recently at the factory and agreed to deliver a “plan to support the workforce of Nestlé Fawdon to find suitable alternative employment if necessary” and to “explore options” for the site that would benefit the local community.
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Council chief executive Pam Smith said: “Whilst we remain deeply disappointed by the decision to close the factory, we are working constructively with both Nestlé and local and regional representatives to ensure that all employees are supported to find alternative employment and the site is reused to maximise the benefit for the immediate area and the wider city. This meeting was an important step forward in meeting those aims.”
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell, local Lib Dem councillors, trade union representatives from GMB and Unite are all part of the taskforce – as are officers from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, North of Tyne Combined Authority, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Work and Pensions.
A Nestlé spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We said from the outset that we do not underestimate the impact that the closure of Fawdon factory would have on the local area and that we want to work with the local community to find ways that we can support the area and our employees. This taskforce is about bringing everybody together in a constructive collaboration to find ways to achieve those aims."
Fawdon and West Gosforth councillor Peter Lovatt said that the local Lib Dems wanted to “see that the Nestlé site remains available as a centre for employment in the area”.
Lib Dem opposition leader Nick Cott added: “We must continue to support all the staff and think about the future of employment and the manufacturing sector going forward, not least at a time of economic uncertainty. We're hoping that Nestlé will help to identify a buyer for the site for alternative business use and that representatives for the company will work with us to find ways of supporting community interests and concerns.”
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