MP seeks urgent meeting over factory workers facing redundancy

Sinn Féin has requested an "urgent meeting" with a meat processing company which plans to stop work at its Linden Foods retail packing facility in County Tyrone.

Pat Cullen, the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, said the party would be asking the company to "prioritise redeployment" for employees affected.

More than 300 jobs are at risk at the food packing facility in the Granville Industrial Estate in Dungannon.

A spokesperson for ABP, which owns Linden Foods, said it was "a very difficult step" but the company was "facing a challenging and changing UK and global marketplace for beef and lamb".

Cullen told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme that it was a "massive shock" for employees and that it was vitally important to make sure they were "represented and that they do have a voice at the top table".

"What we will be principally asking the company to do is first and foremost prioritise redeployment for those employees," she said.

"Given that they have other factories throughout the constituency and further afield, we would be asking them to give priority to moving those people to those other areas."

Linden Foods processes and manufactures beef, lamb, pork and chicken for branded and own label products.

Its parent company ABP has entered into a formal consultation process with 338 employees.

On Tuesday, the company said they would try to "minimise the impact on those who are affected", including by redeployment where possible.

In their statement, ABP added: "Changes in the UK landscape have led to the difficult but necessary requirement to consolidate and reduce the number of our retail packing facilities situated within the UK including Northern Ireland."

ABP Linden Foods receives and processes cattle and sheep at a separate facility that is also located within Granville Industrial Estate, but these jobs are not impacted.

ABP's Lurgan and Newry sites and Kettyle Irish Foods in Lisnaskea are also not impacted.

Earlier, Sinn Féin councillor Dominic Molloy, who is employed by Linden Foods at another factory, said he plans to work with the company to see if any of the at risk jobs can be protected.

"This is 338 people whose jobs are at risk and those people have families, they have bills to pay, they have futures to look after," Molloy said.

"I know the company have given assurances to the other sites but again in the moving market place we're in, who knows, we take the company at their word that those jobs are secure at this time."

Molloy described the current position of the at risk jobs as "really down to the wire".

Glena McDowell-Khan, a mental health charity worker in Dungannon said the factory's closure would have a massive impact on families and to the local Timorese community - many of who are employed by the factory.

"A lot of our clients are Timorese," she said.

"This was a massive shock.

"From last night to today I think I have received 24 calls from people panicking and worrying where they go from this."

She added some families will have multiple members working at the factory which will mean they will be particularly impacted if it closes.

"Everybody in the town is scared, especially as we didn't know this was going to happen," she said.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor Mark Robinson said the job loss announcement was devastating for those affected.

However, he added that he had been contacted directly by a number of businesses who said they were in need of staff.

He said that, coupled with the potential for redeployment, offered at least "a glimmer of hope" for some.

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Diana Armstrong said she was deeply concerned by the announcement.

"My thoughts are with all those affected and with their families, particularly coming so soon after Christmas, when household finances are already under significant pressure," she said.

"There is the very real prospect that some people may be forced to travel further afield or even relocate to find alternative employment, which brings additional financial and personal strain."

Armstrong has called on the economy minister to engage with ABP, trade unions and relevant agencies to ensure all available support is put in place.

Brian MacAuley from Dungannon and South Tyrone Chamber of Commerce said the job losses were a "shock" for the town.

"We certainly didn't see this coming at all," he said.

"Linden Foods has been going a long time and it's an important employer."

He said it was a "frightening time" for the workers, and while some might have to retrain to gain employment elsewhere, there was a "strong food industry" which could absorb the losses.

MacAuley also appealed for Linden Foods to potentially stagger any potential redundancies so it did not create "shockwaves" in other local sectors.

"For now, I would just say the impact of this is still going on in people's minds and let that shock settle and let's see what we can do," he added.