Kettering firm puts staff at risk of redundancy
Staff at a vehicle conversion firm in Kettering have been told their jobs are at risk due to ‘unstable financial climate’.
By Sarah Ward
Staff at a vehicle conversion firm in Kettering have been told their jobs are at risk due to ‘unstable financial climate’.
Cumberland Platforms Ltd (CPL) which employs more than 100 staff across five sites in Kettering, called staff into meetings on Monday to tell them their jobs are at risk. The company, which made some redundancies earlier this year, told staff there has been a significant drop in sales, meaning less labour is needed to fulfil the orders.
It said it had not been replacing vacant jobs, had put a freeze on recruitment and let agency staff go, but needed to make more staff redundant.
CPL converts vehicles into cherry pickers which can be used in various industries, such as telecommunications. It is the top UK company in its niche industry.
Production leader Russell Harper, is one of those affected and has a fifty percent chance of keeping his employment.
He will be scored on his job along with a colleague who does the same job and says he has been told ‘it will be sorted by July 19’ - just 11 days after the company made the announcement. He has worked for the firm for two years.
He said:
“It is disgusting and not the way to treat people who have been loyal.
“We were told everybody is at risk. I think they want five people to do the work of ten.”
He said the company, which has the majority of its sites on the Telford Way industrial estate, had always been nice to work for, with much diversity among the staff and employees paid at least the living wage.
We approached CPL this week and were told there would be ‘no comment from the company’.
The firm is run by managing director Paul Murphy, who co-founded the company in 2011. In 2018 the company was bought out by French firm Klubb and in January this year Paul Murphy was made the chief executive of Italian firm Isoli, which had also been acquired by Klubb. Russell Harper said he understands that some senior staff from CPL will be moving over to the Italian firm. Last year in an interview with the Northants Telegraph about recruitment Paul Murphy insisted the firm was still a ‘family business’, said most staff were local and predicted it would turn over £42m.
Last year the company converted and supplied 650 vehicles to the industry.
Do you work at CPL? You can get in touch with us confidentially by emailing sarahward@nnjournal.co.uk or calling 07887 500545.
A classic example of why employees should join a union.
If only the workers in this firm were in a union.