Gallaher jobs to be relocated to Poland

The announcement was made yesterday by Gallaher owners Japan Tobacco International.

A statement from JTI’s UK office in Weybridge, Surrey, said the decision to lay off 40 workers had been taken as a result of a Europe-wide assessment of its manufacturing operations.

“JTI will transfer the manufacture of certain ready-made cigarette lines to our factories in Poland and Romania,” the statement said.

“This decision will mean the closure of three production lines and will affect 40 jobs across our Lisnafillan site.”

The statement added that the firm expected to be able to redeploy all affected full-time employees within the site which has handled all UK production since 2009.

The company, which bought the former FTSE 100 business in April 2007 for £9.4 billion, added a note of reassurance for remaining staff at the plant.

“It should be noted that our current estimate for headcount going forward to 2015 includes 100 more jobs at our Lisnafillan factory than there were at the time of the Gallaher acquisition in 2007.”