Finland-based meat group HKScan has said its plans to cut up to 295 jobs as part of efforts to streamline its subsidiaries in its home country will not affect production.
The firm this morning (7 January) said it will begin labour negotiations from 14 January over a potential 295 redundancies. The impact is expected to be felt with blue-collar employees, administrative staff or senior administrative staff of HKScan Corp, HK Ruokatalo Oy and its procurement company HK Agri Oy.
The decision is part of plan revealed by the company last week that saw its HK Ruokatalo Oy division become a wholly owned subsidiary of HKScan Corp. The move followed a merger between HKScan Finland Oy and Ruokatalo Oy, and in turn followed the integration of Järvi-Suomen Portti Oy and Helanderin Teurastamo Oy into the Ruokatalo business.
A spokesperson for the company told just-food that "roughly half" of the affected workers will be production staff.
Despite this, the spokesperson said production levels will not be impacted by the cuts.
"On the contrary. The purpose of our plan is to increase productivity and efficiency in our operational processes. Also delivering accuracy towards our clients is having the utmost importance in our business."
Labour negotiations will commence on 14 January and could last up to eight weeks. The spokesperson said, at which time, clarification on any potential investment in facilities will be made.
HKScan has been under pressure to improve profitability for some time. In April last year, it announced a two-year streamlining programme designed to achieve efficiency savings of EUR20m (US$26.5m) annually.
In August, the firm unveiled streamlining plans in Sweden.
