Royal Doulton recently revealed plans to axe 1,000 British jobs following a heavy fall in sales. On top of the cuts to one-in-five of the British workforce, a further 200 positions would be axed worldwide as a result of the slowdown in high street sales, the group said. Most jobs would go from the company's ceramics operations in Stoke-on-Trent, said a spokeswoman - but she said job losses at the firms glass operations might follow next year. Royal Doulton is speeding up the closure of its St Mary's site in the city and scaling back three warehouses to one. Its five product divisions will be combined into two, bringing further job losses. The moves will see 950 manufacturing jobs lost worldwide and a further 250 in administrative support, commercial and retail operations. The redundancies will be swift and nearly all compulsory.
