Restructuring plans see jobs at risk at Suffolk Bosch factory

28 May 2019, 17:00 | Updated: 28 May 2019, 17:07

More than 100 jobs are at risk at the Bosch site in Suffolk, as the company's announced plans to re-locate garden-tool manufacturing to Hungary.

The factory in Stowmarket currently employs 250 people but the move, which the company says hopes to make manufacturing more cost effective, would potetially affect up to 140 jobs there from the end of this year.

Bosch says that associates at Stowmarket have been personally informed about the proposed reorganization and that consultation meetings with the employee representatives and associates will be held in the days ahead.

The Unite Union say they're working to try and get the decision reversed or at least to get the economic impact of the redundancies minimised.

They've also described the plans as a further 'body blow' for East Anglia, saying Suffolk and north Essex is currently suffering a series of major job losses with the Delphi factory due to close in Sudbury, the 2 Sisters Food Group plant in Witham closing and job cuts announced at another 2 Sisters Food Group site at Flixton near Bungay and Le Bronze Alloys in Ipswich.
 
They say the recent announcements will result in more than ONE THOUSAND jobs being lost in the region.

Unite regional officer Neal Evans said: "The announcement of job losses at Bosch is another body blow for the region.
 
"Unite will be doing everything possible to either reverse the decision to transfer these skilled jobs to Hungary or to minimise redundancies.
 
"The constant haemorrhaging of jobs in East Anglia is a direct result of government inaction. Workers are being abandoned.
 
"East Anglia is crying out for an active government manufacturing strategy to ensure that vital skilled jobs do not continue to be lost in the region."