In line with the strategy of slashing jobs pursued by global pharmaceutical majors, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) is set to cut about 70 jobs at its manufacturing plant in Morpeth, UK. Last week, the company reportedly sent a letter to its employees announcing its plans to slash the 400-strong workforce at the plant as part of its cost-cutting initiatives.
Jobs across all departments are at risk, including management posts and a final decision will be taken after consultation with staff, the Morpeth Herald reported. It was during June last year that NPIL entered into deal with Pfizer to buy the Morpeth manufacturing plant through its UK unit NPIL Pharmaceuticals (UK).
This year, major global pharmaceutical firms had taken drastic measures. Pfizer closed down its Kent plant, Merck pared 7,000 jobs, AstraZeneca 3,000 jobs and GlaxoSmithkline cut 5,000 jobs to reduce high costs. Last year, Schering-Plough slashed over 1,000 jobs at its manufacturing sites in Puerto Rico and New Jersey. Fourteen new roles will be created at the plant as part of an internal reorganisation and the cuts will be based on voluntary redundancies. A warning has been given that some compulsory job losses may have to be imposed, the paper reported.
Quoting Castle Morpeth Council Leader Peter Jackson, the Morpeth Herald added that the action of NPIL is contrary to its positive statements made while acquiring the facility from Pfizer.
Chairman of NPIL Ajay Piramal told FE, ?There would be about 60-70 jobs cuts and not more than that.? Refuting allegations on ?positive statements,? Piramal said, ?At the time of acquiring the facility, we had made it clear that we would choose options for making the production at the Morpeth plant more viable and profitable. We are considering other options like purchasing raw materials cost effectively.” The Morpeth site appears to have struggled in making the transition from its former role as Pfizer?s in-house manufacturing facility to a competitive contract manufacturing plant, the paper said, quoting an NPIL statement.