Gordon visits Morrisons

Gordon Henderson this week visited the Morrisons’ regional distribution centre in Kemsley.

The Sittingbourne RDC opened in August 2009 and now employs over 1000 people. One of the concerns locally has been about whether enough local workers were being employed at the site but Mr Henderson was assured by Morrisons that 95% of staff members were recruited from the Swale, Medway and Maidstone areas.

Mr Henderson highlighted the importance of the new Morrisons distribution centre to the local economy by pointing out that the number of local people out of work and claiming job seekers allowance would have been far higher if the supermarket chain had not decided to locate its distribution centre in Sittingbourne.

Mr Henderson said:

“Between April and December last year another 128 local people lost their jobs and started claiming job seekers allowance. That is 128 tales of personal hardship and emotional trauma. But the figure would have been far higher if Morrisons had not opened their distribution centre in August.

“Morrisons are now a major employer in the area, which is why I wanted to visit their site and open up lines of communication with the management. With so much doom and gloom still affecting the national and local economic outlook, it is good to see at least one company willing to invest in our area.

“I have had some experience with retail distribution centres and the logistics industry, so I was interested to see how Morrisons compared with the other supermarket chains. In the event I was really impressed with the operation at Kemsley and it scored very highly.

“But of course all successful companies rely on the dedication and hard work of their staff and it was quite obvious as I talked to people during my visit that Morrisons have put together an excellent, very competent team.

“One of the concerns locally has been about whether enough local workers were being employed at the site, however, when I raised this with the management I received an assurance that 95% of the workforce was recruited in the Swale, Medway and Maidstone area.”