Flour mill closure threatens logistics’ jobs
The closure of Hovis’ Southampton mill with the loss of up to 70 jobs could have serious ripple effects that threaten a number of logistics jobs across the UK.
Hovis announced that the Southampton flour mill will close at the end of 2018 and would see the separate warehouse and logistics operations working for Hovis at DHL Bawtry (near Doncaster), DHL Southampton and DSV Belfast cease at the end of the year.
Unite the union expressed ‘serious concern and dismay’ at the level of proposed job losses at Hovis as well as at DHL Bawtry where it has 200 members, DHL Southampton (31 members) and 18 at DSV Belfast. It is not clear at this stage how many Unite members are working at these sites on the Hovis contract.
Unite called for an urgent meeting with Hovis to examine the business case for shutting the Southampton site, which has been operating since the 1930s, Hovis claims that Southampton mill, which includes the research and development unit, is ‘significantly loss-making’.
