JTI Gallaher: Workers upset as they leave factory for last time

Workers losing their jobs at the JTI tobacco factory expressed sadness on their last day at the Ballymena firm.

About 500 employees are leaving on Friday, with the remainder of the jobs finishing between now and May 2017.

In October 2014, cigarette maker JTI Gallaher announced it would be shutting its County Antrim plant with the loss of 800 jobs.

The factory has been a major employer in Ballymena.

A trade union proposal aimed at saving about 500 jobs at the factory was rejected by management in January 2015.

In a statement on the Ballymena plant, Robert Bisaillon, JTI UK's manufacturing vice president, said: "JTI would like to extend its deepest thanks to all employees that are leaving the company over the coming days.

"Their dedication over the years and their continued commitment and professionalism since the announcement of the factory closure has been exemplary.

"We would like to wish them well for the future."

One worker told the BBC: "I'm absolutely gutted, but that's the way things go sometimes. I worked here 14 years and it's a very good firm - the best firm."

Another said: "You can imagine what the mood's like - it's tragic for the local economy and everybody is very upset."

The end of employment for the 500 staff coincides with the introduction of the government's plain packaging rules for tobacco products.

Davy Thompson of the Unite union said: "It's been a real emotional roller coaster for people this week and the impact will be devastating.

"Around 90% of [the firm's] workforce comes from within a 10-mile radius of the town centre, so it's going to be a huge hammer blow, but it's only the first of many.

"We have Michelin coming down the line and the actual physical closure of JTI will be next year.

"So we're calling on the executive to set about putting jobs in there. Not zero hour contracts and minimum wage, real jobs.

"This is a highly skilled workforce which is why we need to look at not just foreign direct investment but indigenous companies being able to expand."

JTI is appealing a court decision on Thursday which rejected a legal challenge to the new rules, brought by four of the world's biggest tobacco firms.

Gallaher, which made Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges cigarettes, was taken over by Japanese firm JTI in 2007.

When the job losses were announced in 2014, JTI said it was restructuring its manufacturing facilities "as a result of significant and sustained changes impacting its global business".

It said a challenging economic environment, excise tax pressure and the illegal trade of counterfeit cigarettes had "triggered industry volume contraction in a number of key European countries".

The company said these problems had been compounded by European Union cigarette packaging legislation.

Anti-smoking legislation is being introduced across the EU in an attempt to cut the number of smokers by 2.4 million.