Jobs blow for Swift workers

East Yorkshire's beleaguered caravan industry has been dealt another blow after an East Riding firm announced almost 100 job losses.

The Swift Group, East Yorkshire's biggest caravan and motorhome manufacturer, is set to shed up to 99 positions.

The affected workers will leave the firm, which has already made about 280 redundancies this year, on December 15 – 10 days before Christmas.

Employees at Swift were told yesterday between 85 and 99 redundancies are being made.

It will bring the number of job losses this year at the company, which employed about 1,000 staff at the start of the year, to at least 365.

In all, 718 jobs have gone from East Yorkshire caravan companies this year, with the industry suffering from the impact of the credit crunch and people cutting spending on non-essential items.

Some 289 jobs have been lost at Cosalt Holiday Homes in east Hull, 99 from Willerby Holiday Homes, also in east Hull, 80 from Atlas Holiday Homes in west Hull and 50 from ABI in Beverley.

News of the latest losses came as a jobs summit was being held in Hull.

The event was aimed at getting companies with council contracts to provide jobs for East Yorkshire people – including redundant caravan workers – as opposed to bringing in workers from outside the area.

Councilor Carl Minns, leader of Hull City Council, said the continued job losses would impact on the region's wider economy.

He said: "It is a big concern and is a bigger issue than just the caravan industry being affected.

"This is also about the knock-on effect of people having less money to spend, which is going to hit local traders hard, especially in the run-up to Christmas."

Swift has also announced it will stop producing the Ace brand of motorhome and the Abbey and Ace brands of touring caravans, once existing orders have been completed.

This will enable the company to refocus all its activities on the Swift, Sterling and Sprite brands of tourers, and Swift, Bessacar and Autocruise brand of motorhomes.

Dave Oglesby , development officer from Hull's Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), agreed the announcement was another blow for the region's caravan industry, but said he was confident the industry would recover.

He urged anyone being made redundant, in any sector or industry, to attend a seminar at the Guildhall in Hull, on November 24. aimed at helping people get back into training or employment.

Councillor Stephen Parnaby, leader of East Riding Council, reiterated Mr Oglesby's belief that the industry would eventually bounce back, adding: "I believe the market will pick up again and hope this is sooner rather than later."

Representatives from Swift met union officials this week.

The job losses are to be made in the company's manufacturing department.

Last year, Swift announced plans for a £20m expansion to its Cottingham site.

It was estimated this could create about 250 long-term and 200 contractor jobs in the area.

The development also involved creating a new roundabout on the A1079 and changing access arrangements to the plant.

It is not clear whether the scheme will be affected by the latest announcement from Swift, which did not comment on the redundancies when contacted by the Mail.