Haribo plans job cuts at Pontefract site
- Published
The firm has two factories in Yorkshire employing more than 700 people
Sweet-maker Haribo has confirmed it wants to cut jobs at one of its UK factories in Yorkshire.
The German-owned firm employs 732 people at sites in Castleford and Pontefract, but declined to say how many jobs are likely to go.
A local councillor said he understood about 200 jobs could go at the Pontefract site.
The firm said it faces an increasingly competitive market and rising costs and has started a consultation.
Tom Gordon, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Wakefield Council, said he understood employees were told about possible job losses on Friday.
"A number of residents have already been in touch and are deeply worried about what this means for them and their families," he said.
Mr Gordon said the area could not afford to lose jobs on that scale.
It is believed the job cuts will be made at the firm's Pontefract site
Haribo's UK managing director Jon Hughes said the decision was designed to protect the firm's long-term future in Yorkshire and had not been taken lightly.
"The UK has become a manufacturing centre of excellence in the global Haribo network. But to protect this position, we must respond to significant rising costs and the demands of a highly competitive market," he said.
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