Plastics company denies contract threat

ONE of the biggest employers in Beccles has denied a claim that it was threatening workers with radical changes to their contracts.M & H Plastics, which makes and decorates plastic bottles, caps and containers for personal and health-care markets, employs about 600.

ONE of the biggest employers in Beccles has denied a claim that it was threatening workers with radical changes to their contracts.

M & H Plastics, which makes and decorates plastic bottles, caps and containers for personal and health-care markets, employs about 600.

A concerned reader contacted the EDP claiming that staff had been told they could be put on a three-day week with undisclosed payments or part- payments for up to three months in a year, and that they were being threatened with a change of contract, with poor consultation.

But a spokesman for the company said: “There is no threat being made to put staff on a three-day working week with undisclosed payments or part-payments for up to three months. One of the policies in the manual does cover how the business will try to avoid redundancies (if it is ever in a position to look at current manpower levels) by looking at other short-term/temporary flexible working practices in the first instance.

“However, the production levels of the company are healthy and we do not currently envisage the need to implement this policy.”

She said when updates are made to the company's policy manual, which forms part of contracts, the company discusses changes through its employee consultation forum before the manual is re-issued, and requires staff to sign to say they have read the updated version.

She said the process had been undertaken with legal advice, and that any questions raised by staff had been answered.