‘Body blow’

The loss of 150 meat processing jobs at Tulip Ltd in Bodmin was branded as ‘a body blow  to the Cornish economy’ by Unite today (June 1).

The union, which while not recognised by the company has about 25 members at the site, called for the management to discuss the job losses at ‘a hideously difficult time’ for the workforce.

Unite said that the job losses announced today were ‘particularly hard’ given that Bodmin has some of the most deprived wards in the country.

“These job losses are a body blow for the Cornish economy. Behind the picture postcard scenes, Cornwall has real pockets of deep deprivation. Bodmin has some of the most deprived wards in the country,” said Unite regional officer Deborah Hopkins.

“It is because of this, Unite is urging the management at Bodmin to actively engage with us to chart a way forward at what is a hideously difficult time for the workers.

“Jobs that are being lost are focussed at the lower end of the skill spectrum and we are keen to work with the staff to provide support, however, as yet, Tulip has not invited the unions to work with it.

“There were 430 redundancies on site recently which means almost 600 families have been adversely affected within the last 18 months,” she added.

“Tulip had lost a contract with Tesco’s recently and then the staff agreed to a change of contract to support the company, so they are very disappointed today to find themselves being made redundant.

“Their goodwill has reaped a sour dividend which has been compounded by the lack of information from the firm before this decision was announced.

“Reaction locally is one of shock and worry for families, and fears that the Cornish economy will struggle to provide replacement work.

“More widely, Cornwall has six Conservative MPs and they should be putting pressure on prime minister Theresa May to formulate a coherent strategy for economic development in the county and to provide well-paid jobs for the next generation.”

Tulip Ltd has two sites in Cornwall – the site at Bodmin being the meat processing plant, the other is at Redruth.