The Press Conference

The press conference at Harlow Foods was supposed to last twenty minutes. Instead, it lasted nearly two hours. The managing director, Helen Brandt, began by announcing that the company would close one of its three factories by the end of the year. She apologised for the short notice and promised that nobody would lose their job without a fair offer.

A reporter from the local radio asked whether the decision had been made before the summer. Brandt admitted that the board had been discussing the plan since June, but she denied having hidden anything from the workers. “We should have communicated earlier,” she said.

Another journalist asked her how many families would be affected. Brandt answered that about two hundred employees worked at the plant and that the company would offer transfers to the two remaining sites. When asked why the Marsh Road factory had been chosen, she explained that it was the oldest and the most expensive to maintain.

The union representative, Mark Doyle, stood up and accused the management of ignoring the workforce’s warnings. He urged the board to reconsider and suggested postponing the closure until a joint study was completed. Brandt refused to give a date, but she agreed to meet the union the following week.

Before leaving, she told the journalists not to expect further announcements that week and asked them to respect the privacy of the employees. Outside, workers were waiting in silence. One of them said that he had worked there for twenty-two years and that he didn’t know what to tell his children.