BOSSES at Britain’s largest food company have blamed Brexit for hundreds of jobs being threatened at a Midlands pizza factory.

The Nottingham factory plans to lay off 280 staff from the end of the month — and the remaining workforce fear their terms and conditions will be “salami-sliced.” The site is owned by 2 Sisters, the group that makes Goodfella’s Pizzas.

With workers set to observe an overtime ban next week, their union Unite is holding crunch talks with bosses in a bid to win double redundancy pay and protect conditions for the 500 staff who will hold onto their jobs.

Unite said workers had received a new year email noting an “extremely challenging economic environment following Brexit,” and claiming that the factory’s problems were exacerbated by “significant commodity and utility inflation,” increased competition and minimum wage increases.

Unite regional officer Andy Shaw said: “This is very bad news for the workers and their families, and a body blow for the wider Nottingham economy.

“The company has blamed Brexit and pressures from price-conscious supermarkets. Our members will be taking industrial action short of a strike from next Tuesday, which will mean withdrawing overtime and goodwill.”

Mr Shaw said 2 Sisters’s approach to consulting the workforce had been “dire,” with Unite’s proposals “rejected without any real discussion or negotiation.”

He said: “What we want is a doubling of the statutory redundancy pay, as was in place when Northern Foods owned the plant, and for the current salami-slicing of terms and conditions to be reversed.”

A 2 Sisters spokesman said no decision had yet been made on job losses.

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