Industrial racking business set to axe 70 workers

PALLET-Racking business Link 51 is preparing to axe almost 70 workers at its base in Shropshire as it reacts to steel price increases and current market volatility.

Unite, the country’s largest trade union, is holding talks with the management of Link 51 in Telford today to try and mitigate the 69 job losses which have been announced.

Link 51, part of the multinational Whittan Storage Systems, oversees two operations from its Halesfield site in the Shropshire town – pallet racking and locker making. It is understood that the pallet racking will move to a bigger site in Milton Keynes.
 
Unite said the company blamed recent steel price increases, volatile market conditions and Brexit uncertainty for the job losses, which includes 20 agency workers on top of the 69 full-time workers.
 
Unite regional officer Matt Jones said: “This is a long-established business in Telford and the announcement of the redundancies is a tough blow for our members and their families, as well as the Shropshire economy, in the run-up to Christmas.
 
“It is worrying that the employer is stating uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote as partly to blame for this announcement, especially as the West Midlands is the UK’s manufacturing heartland.
 
“We are holding talks with the management with the aim to mitigate the job losses, either by voluntary redundancy or redeployment.”
 
The company is also asking for voluntary redundancies from its locker making facility.
 
Link 51 also has a site at Brierley Hill, close to the giant Merry Hill Centre, which makes mobile and static shelving.
 
The Unite members working in pallet racking are made up mainly of manual workers, as well as clerical, managerial and technical employees.