12:15pm Tuesday 8th July 2008
By Nick Yates
MORE than 200 jobs have been axed at a Kearsley bakery after administrators failed to find a buyer.
Staff at the Peter Hunt Bakery in the Lyon Road Industrial Estate were given the bombshell news at an emergency meeting yesterday (Monday). The bakery will shut with all employees made redundant.
There was some relief among workers who have waited for almost a month to hear about their future following the collapse of Lyndale Foods, the company that formerly owned the bakery.
Lyndale went into administration in early June and part of the company was bought back by its management, led by chairman Sandy Birnie and managing director Michael Quinlin, under the new name of Sayers the Bakers.
Following the buyout, a Sayers bakery in Norris Green, Liverpool, was closed, along with 40 Sayers and Hampsons stores across the North-west.Around 450 jobs went last month and now more than 200 more have gone as administrators admitted they couldn't find a buyer.
Ian Hodson, organising district secretary at the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), said: "Everybody here has lost their jobs, it was not a nice day, people were just standing around in shock. This is an amazing turnaround for what used to be the jewel in the crown of Lyndale Foods."
Alan Norton, aged 53 from Daubhill, had worked at the bakery for 35 years as a storeman. He said: "A lot of people were living in false hope that their jobs would be saved, but I knew it was coming. We are out of limbo now and can try and plan for the future. I am not rushing out for another job, but I think I'll go for something away from the baking industry."
Jobless staff will have to rely on the Government's statutory redundancy pay for a payout. Workers will get a week's wage for every year they have worked, capped at 20 years. Workers over the age of 40 will get a week-and-a-half for years worked since they were 40.
Billy Parkinson, aged 40 from Kearsley, has worked as a pastry maker at the bakery for 20 years.
He said: "I am disappointed, but I am hoping somebody will buy it when the contracts are terminated and they can re-employ us without any liabilities. I am looking for other jobs, but I have been in the food industry for 20 years and don't know much else."
A group of MPs, including Bolton South East MP Dr Brian Iddon,i s meeting this week to discuss an investigation into the conduct of Lyndale Foods management team. Tony Lloyd, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party and MP for Manchester Central will lead the investigation.
Dr Iddon said: "What we really want to do is discuss whether this liquidation has been conducted properly. It seems that the management team at Lyndale Foods has handed redundancy responsibilities lock, stock and barrel to the Government."
A 30 minute adjournment debate with John Hutton, the first Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), will take place today in the House of Commons. The debate entitled "Job Losses at Lyndale Group Ltd", will also explore the conduct of the firm's management team.
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