Royal Doulton announced in June that it is to resume to full-time working. It also announced details of another batch of redundancies. According to a report, more than 2,700 employees are to go back onto a five day week after five months on short time. The firm also revealed it was to shed a further 150 employees as the final part of a cost cutting and re-organization programme announced last December. It is hoped workers will go through voluntary redundancy and natural wastage, but if enough do not come forward, compulsory redundancies will take place. The move will bring the total number of jobs lost by the company since Christmas to 1,200. "We are continuing to review the business and cannot rule out further job reductions although no further ones are planned at the moment," said a spokeswoman, adding that the market is still very difficult. (whole item)
