Unilever to close factories in the Netherlands

ROTTERDAM – Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch maker of consumer goods and food products, said yesterday it plans to close three factories in the Netherlands by the end of 2008, making 474 people redundant.

Financial details were not disclosed. The factories are in Delft and Vlaardingen in central west Netherlands and Loosdrecht in the centre.Production is to be moved to other Dutch facilities, it said.”As a result 474 posts will be made redundant, a third of all the posts in factories in the Netherlands,” the group said in a statement.Unilever said in August it would cut 20 000 jobs worldwide, 11 per cent of its total workforce, over the next four years.It said at the time most of the restructuring would fall in Europe.Unilever makes Dove soaps, Lipton tea and Magnum ice cream among other consumer goods and food products.Nampa-AFPThe factories are in Delft and Vlaardingen in central west Netherlands and Loosdrecht in the centre.Production is to be moved to other Dutch facilities, it said.”As a result 474 posts will be made redundant, a third of all the posts in factories in the Netherlands,” the group said in a statement.Unilever said in August it would cut 20 000 jobs worldwide, 11 per cent of its total workforce, over the next four years.It said at the time most of the restructuring would fall in Europe.Unilever makes Dove soaps, Lipton tea and Magnum ice cream among other consumer goods and food products.Nampa-AFP