Not long after a huge number of jobs were made redundant at Manchester United, the club’s co-owners INEOS have announced more cost-cutting measures in one of their factories
Sit Jim Ratcliffe’s company Ineos will cut 20% of its Acetyls plant in Hull, a matter of months after the Manchester United co-owner made another 250 people redundant at the club. The petrochemical company broke the news to employees at their Hull plan this week, revealing a total of 60 jobs are on the chopping block.
Ineos pointed the finger at “dirt-cheap carbon-heavy imports from China” which are produced using coal, they claim are undercutting their services. Ineos group, which state on their website they generate annual revenues of around $55billion (£41bn approximately) have claimed these Chinese products have been barred from entering the United States, but face no such trade barriers in the UK or Europe.
A statement from the company said they have previously invested £30m at the Hull plant so it could “switch from natural gas to hydrogen,” which they claim cut the equivalent emissions of “160,000 cars.” David Brooks, CEO of Ineos Acetyls, was the one who broke the news to his team of approximately 300 people.
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Brooks said: “This is a very difficult time for everyone at the Hull facility. We have a leading-edge, efficient and well-invested site and the team here is highly skilled, professional and dedicated.
“Making the decision to cut 60 roles was not taken lightly. We have explored every possible alternative but in the face of sustained pressure from energy costs, combined with unfairly low-cost imports into the UK and Europe, we’ve been left with no other choice. Our priority now is to support those affected and protect the long-term future of the site.”
Brooks then took a swipe at the UK governments of past and present, stating: “This is a textbook case of the UK and Europe sleepwalking into deindustrialisation. INEOS has invested heavily at Hull to cut CO2 yet we’re being undercut by China and the US while left wide open by a complete absence of tariff protection.
“If governments don’t act now on energy, carbon and trade, we will keep losing factories, skills and jobs. And once these plants shut, they never come back.”
Ratcliffe has faced a barrage of criticism for the job cuts made at United. In February, the club confirmed up to 200 staff members were at risk in the latest round of redundancies. This followed the United boss cutting its workforce by nearly a quarter, with 250 staff members being let go.
Alongside the job cuts, it was reported current staff members would no longer receive complimentary hot meals, with fruit provided instead, along with soup and toast at Carrington, as part of cost-saving measures. In an interview with The Times, Ratcliffe responded to the criticism levelled at Ineos, saying: “This summer we will ‘buy’ Antony, Sancho, Casemiro, Martinez, Hojlund and Onana and they’re all about 17 million quid each, because that’s what is outstanding.
“If we buy nobody else we’re buying those players. But it will be a very profitable club. We believe in three years’ time it will be the most profitable football club in the world. It will be in a very, very different place, but we need to go through the change. Nobody likes change.
“The changes that we’ve made over this season, plus the ones that have been announced recently [more redundancies], will put us in a position to be able to do that. At INEOS we run a lean organisation.
“As my mother said, you look after the pennies the pounds look after themselves. We can sound flippant about free lunches but if you give all these perks, first-class train fares, free taxis, it’s not coherent. It goes bust at Christmas.
“We’ve made some really tough decisions and now we’re seeing staff understanding what we’re trying to do. There’s a clear vision of what we’re trying to achieve.”
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