United Biscuits Workers Appeal to People of Liverpool - Help Stop Company Greed Hitting Merseyside Jobs

LIVERPOOL, England - Photo and interview opportunities

Date: Saturday 18th April 2009 Time: 11.30 am Venue: Bold Street (Lyceum Building), Liverpool City Centre L1 - Liverpool City Central Business Improvement District

Workers at United Biscuits’ Liverpool Binns Road site have kick-started a petition to urge United Biscuits not to go ahead with plans to move 170 jobs to India.

Unite members at United Biscuits face an uncertain future while the company decides on proposals to move UK jobs abroad later this month.

Workers from the Binns Road site will be visiting Liverpool town centre on Saturday 18th April to encourage the public to sign their petition. The petition calls on the local community, government and local MPs to show their support for the workers by signing up to the “Stop United Biscuits moving Liverpool jobs to India” campaign.

Unite Regional Officer, Debbie Brannan, said: “United Biscuits is owned by private equity firms Blackstone and PIA whose only motive is profit. It is the hard-working staff who have made this company profitable and they deserve to be treated a lot better than this. We must make sure that this is not allowed to happen or we will continue to face more job losses and what jobs will there be in Merseyside for our children?

“We must fight to keep people working in this city, which is why we are launching a petition across the country to rally support from the community so we can keep these jobs in Liverpool and the UK.

“The workers that face job losses have families and mortgages to pay and do not need added stress during this difficult time. It is time they listened to their loyal workforce and don’t let 170 job cuts go ahead.”

Unite members will lobby MPs at Westminster, London next week to appeal to them to support the people of Merseyside as they fight for their jobs.

Support the workers and sign the petition today at: www.unitetheunion.com/northwest.

On 16th May 2009, Unite will hold a march through Birmingham. This will be the centrepiece of the ‘Unite for Jobs’ campaign. The March for Jobs will spotlight the need for urgent assistance to defend jobs.

To see what the Unite for Jobs demands are or for information on the march visit: www.action.unitetheunion.com/campaigns/uniteforjobs

Notes to Editors

United Biscuits brands include:

McVitie’s including Digestives, HobNobs and Rich Tea Jacob’s Cream Crackers Twiglets Hula Hoops Penguin Jaffa Cakes McCoy’s Mini Cheddars Phileas Fogg KP Nuts Go Ahead

Source: Unite the Union

For further information please contact Karen Viquerat on +44(0)1704-546-500 or +44(0)7768-931316 or Debbie Brannan on +44(0)7768-931271.