HOW perceptive of Colin S Jeffrey to know the closure of Terry's of York will not devastate people's lives (April 23).

My wife was very upset and in tears having been in a job where, for 17 years, she is very happy.

I ask Mr Jeffrey if he is on a very good pension or has he an excellent job? I can tell him we need the money my wife earns at Terry's and our household income will go down by a third to a half even if she gets another job.

N Hillen,

Wains Road,

Dringhouses, York.

...NEWS of the closure of Terry's with the loss of the final 316 jobs next year comes as no surprise to me.

I was working there when we were taken over by Kraft and from the beginning, despite hopes of a good future, we were aware that Kraft were really only interested in the chocolate orange and All Gold.

During the next few years, as they gradually scaled down our other products, there was always an uncertainty about the future and the morale of the staff slumped.

I only hope the concern for the remaining staff and their individual futures will be more genuine than it was when we left. Even staff who had worked there for more than 20 years were merely handed their redundancy cheques without so much as a 'thank you' for their years of faithful service.

Future Prospects, on the other land, were quite helpful. I should also like to comment on points mentioned by C Jeffrey (Letters, April 23).

There may be plenty of jobs available in York but many of them are part-time and pay minimum wages, therefore much less than the earnings of permanent staff at Terry's. He also wonders how anyone can be sentimental about working in a factory for years. Well, it may not be interesting work but it is often team work and the friendships formed can mean a lot to people.

Anne Horner,

Carrington Avenue, York.

...ALTHOUGH I am as sad as any other York resident about the probable closure of Terry's, your reporting does not cover all the factors involved.

Kraft may be a multinational company covering many products, but each one has to reach its own sales and profit targets to be financially viable.

As the power of the supermarkets has grown during the last ten years so manufacturers and farmers have suffered.

The supermarkets screw the manufacturers' down to the minimum profit margin they can command. This either drives the manufacturer out of business, or they move to where production costs are less. This, in turn, leads to unemployment.

The manufacturers, in the same product range, cannot join together to fight the supermarkets by fixing a minimum profit level because that would be a cartel, which is illegal.

I believe, and hope, a Government commission is looking into the fairness of this at the moment.

Barbara Geddes,

The Horseshoe, York.

Updated: 11:14 Tuesday, April 27, 2004