GUERNSEY Dairy is losing £5,000 a week. Commerce and Employment yesterday admitted it expects the Dairy to lose £250,000 this year, following a £303,000 loss in 2006.
An independent Milk Price Review Panel recommended that the whole of a proposed 17p-a-litre price rise, due for implementation on 1 December, should go to the Dairy for the first month.
Farmers and milkmen would not get their cut until 1 January.
Department director of client services Richard Nash said that was the best deal for the industry.
‘The panel commented in its recommendations that this arrangement would give the Dairy a modest cash boost - some £50,000 extra - at a time when its cash reserves have been used up supporting the running costs of its operation in the absence of any revenue price increases for a number of years,’ he said.
But Mr Nash said he expected the losses to be stemmed and projections for 2008 suggested the Dairy would record a modest operating surplus.
The department say the panel’s recommendations will not be made public due to the private and commercially sensitive information they contain.
It was yesterday due to meet milkmen to discuss the only point of contention - direct billing - and an announcement is expected on Tuesday as to whether the price rise will be 17 or 18p.
Mr Nash refuted suggestions from some quarters that the Dairy was overstaffed and that changes could not be made to contracts and rotas for fear of strike action.
He said that while staff had previously gone on strike and this was something to consider, it did not mean changes would not be brought in.
‘It is clearly preferable if a change is achieved by consent.
‘However, that may not be possible and in all areas of employment, the withdrawal of labour is a risk,’ he said.
‘The Dairy is, on the face of it, no different in this regard to any other employer.
‘Staff are well aware that it must look to its operating costs across all aspects of its operation and that a certain amount of flexibility of labour is part of this.’
Article posted on 26th October, 2007 - 12.00am
Loading ...
Most Commented: