300 jobs go at factory

Hundreds of jobs are set to go at a manufacturing firm which is closing a site in the Black Country and a warehouse elsewhere in the West Midlands.

Machine operators, fork lift truck drivers and maintenance engineers will be among the 300 workers at plastic packaging firm Linpac who will lose their jobs in Walsall.

Efforts are being made by the company to help redundant staff find work, following the phased closure of the site, off Green Lane, and the relocation of a warehouse in Bromsgrove due to a "restructure".

The site in Walsall, called Linpac Allibert, which designs and produces plastic mouldings, was established in 2003 and is part of the global Linpac Group.

A final closure date has not been revealed and it is not known where the Bromsgrove operation will move to.

A service called Independent Consulting has been appointed to help jobseekers, including team leaders, warehouse workers, finance, administration and support staff.

Its has set up an information centre on site, in Newfield Close, for consultants to talk to employees about their options.

Letters have also been sent out to businesses in the area to inform them of the closure and ask for details of current vacancies.

A spokesman for Linpac was unavailable for comment but Sheila Bower, of Independent Consulting, said: "Linpac is committed to ensuring its employees receive the best possible advice and support."

A worker at Vicraft Ltd, in Brownhills, which has been been contacted by Linpac, said: "This industry is losing jobs hand over fist and I blame it on the price of imported products. Three years ago we had a workforce of 68 but now it's 12."

Linpac's headquarters are in Birmingham and the outfit has a presence in Eastern Europe, Africa, South and North America, Australasia and Asia.