10:12am Tuesday 18th November 2008
By Simon Carr
ANOTHER major Southampton employer is to slash jobs, the Daily Echo can reveal.
About 45 workers face the axe at Associated British Ports (ABP), around one tenth of the company’s workforce.
The Daily Echo understands that no part of ABP will be safe from these cuts which will be spread throughout all sections of the company.
One worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Morale is rock bottom and everyone is worried about their jobs. Everyone is thinking even if we survive this round of cuts will there be more to come?”
Unite union officer Matthew Tipper said: “The job cuts have only just been announced and we are going to be entering into talks with the company shortly.
“We believe the cuts are a result of the global downturn which is hitting all companies. This really could not have come at a worse time as there are just not any jobs out there.
“Of course we are very worried, we will do everything we can to retain people in employment.”
An ABP spokesman said: “It is with regret that we can confirm that it is necessary for a number of redundancies to be made at the Port of Southampton.
The process will be conducted in full consultation with the relevant trade unions and staff representatives.”
The company went on to say it had no idea how long the consultation period would last or when those affected would be out of a job.
It was also unable to rule out the possibility that there may be more cutbacks to come or comment on whether staff had been sent “job at risk” letters.
Yesterday, the Daily Echo revealed the true impact of the recession on Southampton.
The number of people signing on has soared by 30 per cent in the last year and job vacancies dropped by 32 per cent.
As of September, 4,266 people were claiming job seeker’s allowance compared with 3,304 the same time last year.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk