Scottish anger at Young's ‘betrayal’

YOUNG’S decision to close its salmon factory in Annan with the loss of 450 jobs has met with an angry reaction throughout Scotland.
Unite Union regional officer Andy MacFarlane said: ‘The closure of Pinneys amounts to them shutting down the town. It is the ruthless betrayal of a local community that has served this company for generations.’
Young’s, which has also won three key Mark & Spencer contracts, said on Monday that the site was no longer financially sustainable.
It announced it was planning to get out of two loss making activities and move its natural (not smoked) salmon operation to Grimsby, where 200 jobs are being created.
The union has disputed the claim that the site is no longer sustainable and has demanded that the company opens its books.
Since the announcement, an online petition calling for the Annan factory to remain open collected almost 2,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon (pictured), told BBC Scotland that enterprise minister Paul Wheelhouse would talk to Young’s about its decision, which she described as a ‘devastating blow’ for Annan.
She said: ‘This is a deeply concerning situation and a very unwelcome announcement yesterday – one that come without any warning.
‘So the Scottish government is determined to do everything we can to understand the reasons for the decision and offer any support that we can.’
She said the PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) initiative would be put in place to offer to support to those facing redundancy.
Joan McAlpine, the SNP MSP for South of Scotland, has written to the company demanding to know the answers to 10 questions, including what options they were looking at to keep the factory open, why they had reached the conclusion the site was ‘no longer financially sustainable’, and what severance packages staff and casual workers would be entitled to.