A MAJOR Bridgwater employer is looking to make job cuts as part of shake-up at the company following a merger last year.

Trade union Unite claims around 30 people are being offered pay-offs to leave the Refresco Gerber drinks factory.

The firm employes 600 staff at its Express park site.

Refresco Gerber says the number of people officially being made redundant is less than five.

However they have confirmed that consultations are currently going on with a number of workers about “changes” which they are looking to make but are not classing these as redundancies at this stage.

Unite spokesman Terry Keefe said: “Workers at the firm are being called in and being offered an enhanced package deal to go after being told they may no longer have a future at the company.

“It is Unite’s understanding that the company wrote to 30 members of staff inviting them to a meeting in the first couple of days this week.

“The letter was received on Saturday and the meetings appear to be on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

“I have been verbally informed by some members that they were told they were potentially not felt to have a future in the reorganised company and that they could either take the enhanced settlement package on offer or appeal the decision where they would not know what package would be offered.

“They have reportedly been given a maximum of seven days to make their decision.

“Both the senior representative and the Unite full-time officer are absent for the week on annual holiday and were not made aware of the apparent hurried timescales prior to leaving – a poor decision bearing in mind the letters would have already been written and been put in the post before they left.”

A spokesman for Refresco Gerber said: “Following the merger with Refresco in November 2013, we have undertaken an extensive review of our business.

“The results show that changes are required to ensure we are competitive in the future.

“We are carrying out individual consultations with a number of employees in relation to the proposed changes to the business, about which we have already consulted Unite.

“These discussions are confidential and therefore it would be inappropriate to make any further statements about the consultations.

“We would reiterate these do not involve any further redundancies.”

Refresco Gerber is the UK’s largest juice producer producing 630 million litres of juice per year.