John Brown cuts salaries of 750 staff

JOHN BROWN Engineering, part of the Trafalgar House group, has cut salaries of 750 staff in its Portsmouth office by 10 per cent in a move that it says has saved 100 jobs, writes Heather Connon.

The Portsmouth office handles international construction projects for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, where John Brown is one of the top three in the world. David Moorhouse, chief executive, said many clients had been deferring or cancelling projects, which had forced the division to find ways of cutting staff.

He said 95 per cent of the staff voted for pay cuts, which took effect at the beginning of the month, rather than face redundancies. 'We did not want to cut staff as we want Portsmouth to remain the core office for pharmaceuticals and chemicals in the future,' he said.

No other offices are affected although, according to Construction Weekly, 40 administrative staff at Portsmouth were made redundant just before Christmas.

Last month Costain, the construction company, cut pay for its 2,900 employees by 5 per cent as part of a cost-saving package.