Highland Spring will axe jobs and cut wages for every remaining worker

HIGHLAND Spring is set to axe 35 jobs and cut wages across its 400 staff, blaming Covid for a downturn in trade.

The bottled water giant is preparing to enter into redundancy talks with staff at its Perthshire headquarters.

Around 35 workers will lose their jobs between the company’s main Blackford base and the firm’s smaller depot in Lennoxtown, Dunbartonshire.

Meanwhile, all staff face having their wages cut with the introduction of an ‘across-the-board salary reduction’ until at least the middle of 2021.

A spokesman said: ‘All staff will be fully supported through the consultation process over the coming weeks.’

Local Tory MSP Alexander Stewart, representing Mid-Scotland and Fife, said it was ‘hugely disappointing’ to hear of potential redundancies at ‘a firm which is so vital for the local economy’.

And Nationalist MSP Roseanna Cunningham said she was hopeful job losses at Blackford could be avoided.

She said: ‘There can hardly be a business in the country that has not been affected in some way by the global pandemic.’