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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Matt Bryan

Dawnfresh Seafoods employees' 'uproar' as Lanarkshire workers told they weren't getting paid in closure announcement

Workers at Dawnfresh Seafoods have told of their disgust at being made redundant and not even receiving their wages last week.

Employees at the Uddingston factory were let go on March 1 as the company announced it was going into administration.

That left 200 workers without a job - and we can now reveal they were left without redundancy payments from the firm.

One of those workers suffering the impact of the devastating news, told Lanarkshire Live of "an uproar" at the local site as men and women found out they would not get their weekly wages, due last Friday.

The employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, revealed a letter that was issued last year, promising thousands of pounds worth of payments due to him through redundancy for his 15 years of service, should he stay until the end of June 2022.

But like many others now left unemployed, the worker will not be compensated and may need to wait up to six weeks for any support through the Scottish Government.

The Dawnfresh employee told us : “They promised us we’d get our redundancies, they’d pay our 12 weeks notice, and pay our £2000 retention fee to stay until June this year.

"Then they came in, did what they did and we didn’t even get paid that week. Now we need to claim our redundancy through the government.

“I honestly think they knew what they were doing from the start and gave us the letters just to keep us all there as long as they could.

“I was there 15 years. I know they kept 60 on, and they were told they’d get paid and get a £1000 bonus for staying on.

“I was raging. You’ve got the second richest man in Scotland (Alastair Salveson) standing there thanking us for getting them through Christmas and then turns round and says we’re shutting and we’re not getting our wages.

“I feel let down. I’ve worked there all my years, gave them all my time, and that’s how they thank me."

The Lanarkshire worker told how he was still bringing in deliveries to the factory on Tuesday morning before everyone was gathered in two groups to be told they were out of a job.

He added: “I’ve been left without a job. I’m now trying to find work elsewhere, but they still haven’t sent out all my certificates - like my forklift licences and things like that.

“When they announced it, they took the first lot in who were told they were the ones getting kept on and sent them home that day, but they were to come back the next day.

“Then they took the next lot in and told us we weren’t going to be getting our wages, and to just go.

“There was an uproar, people were walking out kicking machines and everything, they were raging.

“And it’s understandable because there’ll be some people there probably on the breadline.

“For those people working week-to-week, what do they do now to feed their child?"

Mark McHugh of Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union said: "The treatment of the workers has been nothing short of disgraceful.

"The consultation process and months of empty promises was built on a foundation of lies and deceit.

"It's absolutely shocking.

"Once the company made the announcement, the union was never notified. We've had a relationship with the company for around 20 years."

The trade union have also taken the position that they hope the Scottish Government can step in to help workers who have lost their job by paying them their lost wages and additional money they are entitled to.

It's understood that many long-serving employees at the Uddingston factory now face having to reach to foodbanks for support after the sudden loss of their income, a representative of Bakers told us.

Meanwhile, local politicians have continued to fight the corner of workers at the Lanarkshire site, including Monica Lennon MSP who said "workers feel betrayed" when she raised the issue at Holyrood on Friday.

"With a cost of living crisis biting, no one should be short-changed at this present time", she added.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was "concerned" and called for "the fairest possible treatment" of employees at Dawnfresh.

She also stressed that Scottish Enterprise will explore all possibilities to rescue jobs.

When asked about the pay issues from the Dawnfresh closure, a spokesman for the joint administrators, Tom MacLennan, Callum Carmichael and Michelle Elliot - partners with FRP Advisory, said: "Any staff that believe that they are owed wages or other payments up to February 28 are being actively encouraged to lodge a claim with the Redundancy Payments Office.

"The joint administrators are stressing that they will provide any affected staff with as much assistance as possible with the process.

"All claims will be dealt with by the Insolvency Service within their 12 week mandatory period."

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