Icelandic food firm reduces layoffs at Bourne factory

A Lincolnshire food firm has agreed to reduce compulsory redundancies at one of its factories from 170 to 35 posts.

The Icelandic-owned Bakkavor factory in Bourne, which makes salads, prepared fruit and stir fry, will lay off 35 salaried staff but no hourly workers will be made redundant.

More than 140 hourly-paid employees have taken voluntary redundancy.

The Unite union said it had worked "in a positive way" with the company during the 90-day consultation period.

"We have got something through negotiation that is - in a dark and bad time - as positive as it can be," Unite representative Steve Nesbitt said.

"We are happy they have moved from their original proposals and away from compulsory redundancies to … 140 voluntary redundancies which is a significant achievement in itself."

Bakkavor said it had reduced proposed job losses from 375 to 170 earlier in the consultation process.

The firm, which has eight sites in Lincolnshire, said the cuts were necessary because of "difficult trading conditions in the food sector".