JTI Gallaher cigarette factory plant in Ballymena to close permanently by 2017

Cotta

saverbuyer wrote: »

It shows you how big their margin is.

I was surprised but the person I was with who was buying the items said exactly the same thing.

mamabuddah

Main causes were excise duty, illegal ciggie sales and the final nail in the coffin was this new EU directive about packets and sizes being produced...from reading the press it would appear the only political party to oppose this was the DUP...sadly it seems SF and the SDLP were happy for it to go through....reading on social media, you almost get the impression certain parties voted the way they did because it was a major firm based in Ballymena.

Sadly, there are few major employers left in Ballymena, remember Pattons went with quite a few job losses and a serious knock on effect.

There are 3 major employers left now...Michelin (they're on shaky ground) Wrightbus (who have quite a few workers NOT from the area ) and Moy Park (used to be o'Kanes) who seem to employ almost exclusively workers that they "bus in" from outside the town. Believe it or not, they use agencies to employ their staff, they have to sit an entrance exam in Maths & English (use of, reading/written/spoken word)...mind you the exam is easy as they use interpreters to tell examinees what the questions are....just exactly how that works for Health & Safety I don't know...bit difficult when you don't speak English I would imagine...of course then you have the problem of any new recruits (local) being trained by someone with a poor or non existent grasp of the English language...it beggars belief.

tommie

`JTI Gallahers has been one of the cornerstones of the Ballymena economy.
Staff were well-paid - it is believed the average salaries were more than £60,000.`


60k eh?


surprised they didn`t move to eastern europe long ago.

Cotta

tommie wrote: »

`JTI Gallahers has been one of the cornerstones of the Ballymena economy.
Staff were well-paid - it is believed the average salaries were more than £60,000.`


60k eh?


surprised they didn`t move to eastern europe long ago.

£60k can't be right.

tommie

Cotta wrote: »

£60k can't be right.

That`s what i thought, but.. -->http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-29531210

mamabuddah

Cotta wrote: »

£60k can't be right.

I think the "big money" was usually as a result of overtime, which they appeared to pay quite a lot of...at least until agencies took over filling employment gaps...with lower wage earning substitutes...

Cotta

tommie wrote: »

That`s what i thought, but.. -->http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-29531210

That 60 million would make the average wage 68k, the report doesn't say it returns 60 million to the local economy annually so there is room for interpretation.

warmhands.coldheart

tommie wrote: »

`JTI Gallahers has been one of the cornerstones of the Ballymena economy.
Staff were well-paid - it is believed the average salaries were more than £60,000.`


60k eh?


surprised they didn`t move to eastern europe long ago.

Cotta wrote: »

£60k can't be right.

tommie wrote: »

That`s what i thought, but.. -->http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-29531210

Well if a Forklift driver is on about £32,000, what the hell would the staff with, lets say, more complicated duties be on?? technicians, engineers, machinery operators etc, office staff .....

warmhands.coldheart

NI22 wrote: »

Are you the forum grandmonther? You seem to know everything about everything.

just read a lot of news stories, and listen to the radio a lot.... (not Radio 1 or other such tat !!)

saverbuyer

Cotta wrote: »

£60k can't be right.

I know a couple of people that work(ed) there. 60K probably isn't far off.