The tide appears to have turned in favour of Unilever’s Port Sunlight site.
A decade ago, the plant’s trade union representatives voiced fears that Unilever might have been planning to close down Port Sunlight altogether.
Those fears were sparked by a series of departmental relocations away from what has traditionally been seen as the spiritual home of the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant to other locations around the country.
In 2002, Unilever announced the loss of 190 research and development jobs at Port Sunlight. It was the third blow to workers at the plant in two years. The firm had already moved 170 IT posts from the same site to Ewloe, a few miles over the border in North Wales and brought an end to 120 years of soap production at the Wirral plant.
At the time, the union said it was concerned that this series of relocations meant Unilever had an agenda to close the plant by stealth. While that didn’t happen, the number of research roles at the site dwindled from about 1,500 to 800 today.
Now, however, Unilever’s recent investments at Port Sunlight have put that process of decline in reverse and they suggest a growing and rosier future for the plant.
Those recent investments include the opening of a £24m Advanced Manufacturing Centre in 2016. This 65,000 sq ft factory will be approximately the size of a football pitch.
The equipment and plant inside it will replicate conditions found in Unilever’s factories all over the world, allowing Port Sunlight-based research scientists to better formulate products that can be manufactured and sold in overseas markets.
In addition, the firm’s IT department has recently returned from Ewloe to Port Sunlight employing 800 IT professionals. The construction of a new personal care factory is also in progress at the site and due to open in 2015.
Recently acquired brands such as Tresemmé, Radox and VO5 will be produced at Port Sunlight for sale in the UK and international markets. However, this investment has come at the expense of factory closures in Slough, Swansea and Bridgend. The consolidation into Port Sunlight is part of an efficiency drive that will result in a net loss of 800 jobs in the UK.
Nevertheless, the firm’s commitment to the Merseyside region is further underlined by the construction of a new £65m Materials Innovations Factory (MIF), to be built at the heart of the science campus of the University of Liverpool.
Housing 250 researchers, it will focus on cutting-edge chemistry and provide fast track testing and formulation of new molecules used in the firm’s detergents and other products.
In addition, a separate £6.9m Materials Innovation Centre is being opened by Unilever at Liverpool Science Park, which is also part of the University.
While acutely aware of the job cuts elsewhere, Unite’s Port Sunlight union convenor, Bill Hodgson, agrees the plant’s prospects have improved in recent years. Mr Hodgson has worked in the R&D side for 25 years. He insists that behind Port Sunlight’s Victorian facade, are state-of-the-art facilities.
He said: “There has been a decision somewhere that Port Sunlight is going to be one of Unilever’s hubs. A lot of work is coming to Port Sunlight. It’s great for Port Sunlight, but not so great for Slough and Bridgend. It’s not entirely a good news story.”
He added: “Hopefully, with the new investment we are looking at more jobs.”
Currently, Port Sunlight houses 2,000 jobs, with the prospect of more to come when the new facilities open.
Mr Hodgson said: “In terms of security for the site, it has to be a positive.”
Not that everything in the garden is rosy. Staff have lost their final salary pension scheme, a long standing perk of working for the traditionally paternalistic firm. Wages have fallen in real terms as annual pay rises have not kept pace with inflation.
The union says that some of Port Sunlight’s new jobs are being offered worse terms and conditions than those enjoyed by existing staff and some contract staff are paid only the minimum wage and not the living wage, something Unite hopes to address in the near future.
Cameron Jones, Unilever Port Sunlight site leader, said: “Unilever has been in the manufacturing business for over 125 years and this is the next step on that exciting journey. The centre creates a step-change in our ability to bring truly innovative products to market faster.
“The MIF represents another exciting step in Unilever’s development and will help us to deliver bigger and better consumer innovations, whilst accelerating our product development process.
“There is nothing else like this facility in the world and to have it on the doorstep of our Port Sunlight R&D centre is extremely important for Unilever, the Liverpool City Region and UK plc.”
Phil Davies, leader of Wirral Council, said: “This is fantastic news. To have a global company such as Unilever decide to build a state-of-the art Advanced Manufacturing Centre here demonstrates the Wirral can compete on the world stage and again shows Unilever’s ongoing commitment to the area.”
