Wigan lorry drivers fear for their future after their employer loses its Heinz contract

Dozens of Wigan lorry drivers face an uncertain future after their employer lost its contract with Heinz for the first time in quarter of a century.
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June 30 will see the Kitt Green-based food giant’s 25-year contract with Wincanton end as far as ferrying its produce around the country and Europe is concerned.After a tendering process, Wincanton gets to keep its warehousing deal with Heinz, but as of July 1 it will be 3T HGVs that will be transporting millions of tins of beans and other foostuffs away from the huge plant.And as of yet it is not clear what will happen to the 75 drivers Wincanton employs.One lorry driver of 30 years’ standing who has worked for Wincanton for the last year, said: “It has come as something of a shock and it is going to affect a lot of people.“You can’t fault Heinz: they have made a decision that suits their business model and there’s nothing we can do about it, but I think Wincanton could have been a bit more transparent about things.“There are some people who have been taken on as drivers only a few months ago. They had made career changes and new commitments only to find they are now only guaranteed work for another four months.“Wincanton have said they will try to find new things for us to do, but there are no guarantees about avoiding redundancies.“In this climate it is easy enough to find other work as a lorry driver, but I live nearby to the Heinz-Wincanton site and imagine I would have to travel quite a distance further to find a decent alternative.”Heinz has confirmed that Wincanton had not been successful in the recent tender for the transport contract for Kraft Heinz in Wigan and that the contract has been awarded to a new provider, 3T, and it is proposed the transport operation will transfer on July 1.But the company declined to comment further.A spokeswoman for Wincanton said: “We can confirm that the Kraft Heinz transport operation will no longer be run by Wincanton from 1st July 2022.“We expect to be able to offer all colleagues alternative roles within Wincanton. In the meantime, we’d like to thank our colleagues for their hard work and ongoing commitment.”Heinz has recently been exploring the possibility of deploying the local railway line for freight to reduce road use.

The new contract also comes after huge ructions at the main Kraft Heinz plant next door after the food giant pulled the plug on a planned £140m expansion plan to introduce sauce production at Wigan.

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Millions of bottles of the famous ketchup and other condiments were set to be made there in the coming years but the U-turn was performed after workers went against their union’s advice and voted against changes to their terms and conditions.

Blaming this poll, Heinz said it was now going to take sauce production to sites in Spain and Poland instead.

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