U.K. seafood processor Young’s Seafood has announced it will not be closing two plants despite losing a lucrative fish processing contract with Sainsbury’s, though the plants will operate with a reduced workforce.
The plants, located in Fraserburgh and Spey Valley, which initially employed up to 900 people, were on the chopping block after the company lost a GBP 100 million fish processing contract with the retailer, but under a new plan the company has decided to keep them.
“We recognize the importance of the Fraserburgh and Spey Valley factories to their local communities and we are moving forward with a plan that will retain jobs at both of the sites,” Young’s CEO Pete Ward said in a statement.
The Spey site will continue to operate as a smoking facility, which the Fraserburgh site will remain open with a reduced workforce. The plan, which the company refers to as its “alternative option,” will retain approximately 250 jobs in total. The statement also acknowledged, however, that to implement this plan the company would have to deal with what it called workforce “redundancies.”
