8:55am Thursday 9th July 2009
WORKERS at a Leominster factory wrecked by fire will meet Jobcentre staff this morning (Thursday).
Jobs at Skymark Packaging were thrown into jeopardy three weeks ago when the blaze tore through the packaging plant close to Southern Avenue industrial estate.
Many have transferred to the firm’s other two sites, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire and Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Temporary offices are in use in Leominster while some production staff have been moved to a short-term Malvern site.
This morning, employment officials will be at the Talbot Hotel, Leominster, to talk to employees.
“We are working closely to support Skymark, and with our partners in Leominster, to run a redundancy advice day for workers affected,” said Ben Herbert, senior press officer with the Department for Work and Pensions. He said advisers would be there between 10am and 1pm.
But this week Skymark’s managing director, John Turner, said everyone at the Leominster site still had a job.
“For the next three weeks everyone is in employment. After that we should know more about what our business is like going forward. I’ve had a meeting with Herefordshire Council about restarting in Leominster.”
■ The likely cause of the fire was a mechanical fault in a print machine.
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