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GlaxoSmithkline (GSK) is preparing to cut 1,800 manufacturing jobs in the UK as part of a major restructuring programme of its global plant network, aimed at producing significant cost savings.
The company's plant at Speke, Liverpool, is expected to close over the next three years with the potential loss of around 500 jobs. The site mainly produces CFC-containing asthma inhalers, the demand for which has been declining steadily since 1995.
Up to 400 redundancies are predicted at GSK's plant in Barnard Castle, which currently has a 1,500-strong workforce. Over the next three years some of the plant's operations which are duplicated elsewhere will be transferred to other sites. However, the company said that Barnard Castle would remain one of GSK's largest manufacturing sites in the world.