No wages for Firkins staff

All 340 workers at Black Country baker Firkins are to lose their November pay, despite a deal that saved the business.

Even the 200 whose jobs were saved in an 11th hour buyout deal by owner Ian Bolderston have been told they will not get their wages on Friday.

All will be able to claim back wages through a Government scheme, but are unlikely to be paid for at least two months.

They have lost out because they now work for a new business, Firkins Foods, created by Mr Bolderston to buy the Black Lake bakery at West Bromwich and 30 of the 50 shops out of administration yesterday.

As a brand new business it is not legally responsible for the wages of the old Firkins Bakery company. A company spokeswoman confirmed the wages of the old business were now a matter for the administrators.

Both the 200 still in work and the 140 people who lost their jobs yesterday will all have to claim through the Employment Rights Act.

It will come as yet another blow to a long-suffering workforce that was already having to receive its wages in instalments because of the cash crisis at the Firkins business.