Less than 12 months since some jobs were cut at its Haverhill site, ‘further workforce reductions’ have been announced by TAIT.
The global firm, which specialises in creating live experience environments, such as concerts, entertainment parks, cruise ships and theatre, has not said exactly how many jobs would go, or where, but its factory in Iceni Way is among the sites being looked at.
A source close to the business, who asked not to be named, said TAIT told staff last week it would be making further reductions to its UK headcount, by around 25 per cent.
The source said: “The redundancies will likely impact Haverhill the most. If I were to estimate, I’d say of the 105 announced this week, over half will be at Haverhill.
“The project pipeline for the mechanical engineering team at Haverhill is non-existent, so I suspect the team will be reduced to near zero.
“The announcement caused a lot of upset. The last redundancies resulted in something close to riots in Haverhill by the manufacturing team.”
The source added: “TAIT has not adjusted its business model to suit the UK market and enforces the same model used in the USA, which is not compatible with clients in the UK.”
A spokesperson for TAIT said: “We continually evaluate all aspects of our business to ensure we are well-positioned to execute our long-term business strategy.
“After a thorough and careful review, we have announced proposed workforce reductions in the UK and Europe.
“We do not make these proposals lightly and we are working with elected employee representatives and each affected individual to ensure they are afforded the dignity, compassion and support they deserve during this time.
“This process began in October and will conclude in December. Out of respect for our employees’ privacy, we cannot provide any further details.”
Despite not saying confirming how many redundancies were made in Haverhill last time, a TAIT spokesman had said in July last year that it ‘employed about 110 people in Haverhill, of which about 20 per cent would be impacted by the operational changes’.