FRANCE: Pork firm Gad to shed more than half of its workforce

French pork giant Gad, which went into administration earlier this year, has informed its works council it may axe up to 946 jobs.

Gad’s plans to keep the business going will entail the closure of an abattoir in Lampaul-Guimiliau which employs 828, a cold meats plant in Saint-Nazaire and the company’s HQ, a union official told just-food today (1 July).

That would leave Gad with one abattoir to which 300 redundant staff could be transferred.

“The continuation plan’s impact on jobs is worse than we feared,” the general secretary of the Force Ouvrière union at Gad, Olivier Le Bras, said. “We are not against restructuring but it must be done intelligently. Closing the Lampaul-Guimiliau abattoir doesn’t make sense.”

Gad was not immediately available for comment.

Last month, the deadline for takeover bids for Gad passed without any offers received.

Gad has accumulated debts over the past four years of around EUR100m (US$130.5m). A court will deliver its verdict on the continuation plan next month.

Sign up for our daily news round-up!

Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights.

Sign up