Jobs set to go at chicken factory

The company processes chickens in Coleraine

Seventy jobs are to go at the Farm Fed Chickens processing plant in Coleraine, County Londonderry.

The Transport and General Workers Union said staff were told last Friday that there would be job losses because an order had fallen through.

The company currently employs 350 people.

Gareth Scott of the TGWU said they were concerned for both those who had lost their jobs and the remaining staff.

"Coleraine is a high unemployment area and it will be particularly difficult for them," he said.

"And that is why it has come as such a shock to those workers and it will be a difficult time for them.

"There is, of course, deep concern for the remainder of the workforce that such a large order has been lost.

"Farm Fed are working hard to try and attract new orders and maybe increase orders that they currently already have."