The 2 Sisters-owned Avana Bakeries site in Newport, Wales is to close with the loss of 646 jobs.
The decision to close the Rogerstone bakery was announced yesterday and comes after the jobs were placed at risk following the loss of a multi-million-pound Marks & Spencer cake contract.
In a statement, the company said it was trying to minimise the number of redundancies by seeking volunteers and looking to redeploy staff elsewhere.
In a statement, Avana Bakeries said: “It is with much regret that we can confirm that, following a 45-day consultation period, we are closing our Avana Bakeries site in Newport
“During the consultation, we have fully explored all the options available to us since losing what was the principal customer contract for the site. Sadly, we have been unable to find a way to keep the site viable.
“Our priority now is to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies through seeking volunteers and redeployment elsewhere. We will also be working with the Welsh Government, Job Centre Plus and Staffline to seek opportunities for our colleagues outside the business.
Consultation
“We will now work with all our colleagues and our customers to implement a phased closure, which we anticipate will end by summer.”In February, 2 Sisters Food Group said it had entered into a 45-day consultation exercise with the staff.
John James, of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, told WalesOnline: “We are disappointed with the closure announcement because not a lot has changed since last week. The company is still working hard to secure business, but unfortunately the consultation period has ended and it wanted to give employees an answer.”
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