Nestle, the global food-manufacturing company, has decided to close one of its factories in Fawdon, which lies in the Northeast region of England, by the end of 2023. Instead, the company has decided to focus on increasing production at the York and Halifax factories so that it can shoulder the production capacity of the Fawdon factory.
The Company is investing 20 million pounds in the York factory to increase the production of KitKat in the city where the brand was first created in 1935.
Another 9.2 million pounds will be invested in the Halifax factory, which will take on most of Fawdon’s current production.
Nestle’s Confectionary’s R&D centre is based at York, and the Halifax factory, which is over a century old, is now going to become even more important for the firm.
The Company plans to invest heavily in the modernisation of the production process at York. With this, according to the two unions at Nestle, GMB and Unite, almost 573 jobs are at risk— 475 will be lost at Fawdon and 98 at the York factory, respectively.
The Fawdon factory, which was opened in 1958, was carrying out the production of 15 brands at Nestle, including Fruit Pastilles, Matchmakers and Rolos.
GMB and Unite see this move as sickening and claim that lives are being ruined in the ruthless pursuit of profits.
