Jobs at risk as tips face closure
Monday 23rd March 2009, 3:14PM GMT.
Two tips in the Black Country are under threat of closure in a cost-cutting move, putting nearly 70 jobs at risk, the Express & Star can reveal today.
SITA UK is considering shutting its depots in Neachells Lane, Wednesfield, and Coneygre Industrial Estate, Tipton, and moving all operations to Bordesley in Birmingham.
The sites are commercial rubbish tips and recycling centres, collecting and sorting the likes of bottle banks from across the Black Country.
The company said today it was in talks with workers and would try to relocate as many as possible if the facilities did close. But Caroline Crolley, Unite regional industrial officer, said bosses would only reveal that closing the Wednesfield site would save around £500,000 a year.
She said: “They won’t give us any information and the staff want answers. I will be putting all of the workers’ questions to them at a meeting on Wednesday.”
Around 37 people are believed to work at Wednesfield and about 30 at Tipton.
SITA UK spokeswoman Nicola Dowlen said: “We are currently consulting with staff at our Wolverhampton depot regarding the potential closure of the site. We’ve also had initial discussions with our staff in Tipton.” The firm specialises in business and residential waste disposal and street cleaning.
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Doubt the “Credit Crunch” is affecting recyclng centres. Sounds like a ploy to make a few extra bob to me.
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From rumours in the industry the only person that has so far consulted the staff is a Depot Manager from the site that are going to reap the benefits of a closure on the other sites.
Seems to me like someone is getting paid a share/bonus of the supposed £500k saving to make a bad decision that affects the Black Country people again.
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i always believed that these firms where hired by local councils surely if any money was saved it should be of benefit to the councils or am i living in cloud cuckoo land just another excuse to hit workers when they are down
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Agreed – there is a lot of this going on – Bosses blaming the credit crunch in order to make a few bob.
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What Consulating? We had a meeting on March 9th and we have heard nothing since. We got no manager and HR who said they be there haven’t even set foot in the building.Every one is angry they couldn’t care less about the staff and we are making a profit at the depot!
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How much will it save? after the cost of clearing up fly tipping because these sites are closed
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We all want to make this depot work we wish to be consulted properly at the depot no one is talking to us
We may have ideas of our own that can help the depot succeed
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For such a large company who donates money to nature reserves and forests they obviously have not cosidered how much it will cost in fuel to travel the extra distance to customers. I thought we are supposed to be reducing the carbon footprint not increasing it.
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HOW CAN THAY LEAVE THE PERSON WHO RUNS BIMINGHAM DEPOT TO SORT IT OUT WHEN HE`S GOING TO BE THE ONE WHO GETS THE MOST OUT OFF IT. MORE MONEY AT BRUM DOPOT BIGGER HOUSE FOR HIM
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these companys come and go all the time sita isnt as big as everyone els and losing majour contracts to smaller firms with who pay less and ship everything abroad to countrys like india and 3rd world countrys to sort out.
with majour companys falling behind sita will be saved but only by cost cutting and down sizing thats how people will servive the credit crunch
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Shame they don’t shut the biffa by me it flamin stinks ..
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After all the years i have been in this industry this is one of the worse decisions this company has made. I think it will cost them more in the long run with fuel costs, brakedown costs and tipping costs.I think the Express and Star should come down to both sites and get the opinions of the workforce./
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This company like so many others in Tipton, is consolidating its resources.
I’m sorry to say this, but I think people in Tipton need to have higher aspirations. Let’s attract new technology and new ways of thinking instead of persistently being at the bottom of the pecking order. Let’s create and run our industries, instead of letting elements within those industries, run us into the ground. Unless of course we wish to see even more bright, hard-working people leave , only to replaced by sweatshops that could care less for their welfare.
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The staff could always wait until 2012, and run ‘rubbish marathons’ from Tipton to Birmingham. It might create thousands of (temporary) jobs, and make the unemployment figures look neat and tidy. The New Deal scam starting to wear a bit thin. Yep, this could well be a nice little earner for the private interests running the whole affair, including their political allies. We could host an exhibition of our achievements in the £50m+ Arts Complex, informing us how we’ve never had it so good..
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They keep telling us their biggest assett is the staff when we being treated like this their be no assetts left especially when communication and enthuusiam is their main point ie roadshow
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If the management spoke to the staff before making kneejerk decisions regarding the future of the depot perhaps the staff would have ideas on cost effective savings and improvements to the way things are done.
No permanent manager for 12 months says to the hard working staff that the intention was always to close the depot.
Communication has been none existant between the management and the staff even to the point where the staff still don’t know where there future lies in terms of prospects of remaining with the company.
I think the company needs to follow its own values and put the staff that made the company the way it is first.
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Sita are doing this all over the country, they recently aquired a metals recycling company and are in the process of destroying it.
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The sita hierarchy are in no way interested with the indivdual employee.They hide behind the guise of a caring environmentally friendly company,who’s greatest assets are it’s staff. My experience with this company is: “They are not to be trusted” and all be aware of the redundancy matrex they use, this too is a complete farse.
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The Sita hierarchy hide behind the guise of a caring(employee & environmentally)friendly company,from personal experience this is not so and they are not to be trusted.All be aware of the redundancy matrex,it is there to service their needs not yours.
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