A UNION leader says he has not given up hope of saving some of the 645 jobs under threat at Nestl Rowntree in York, despite the departure of Smarties.

GMB boss John Kirk said he hoped some jobs could still be saved at the factory through the re-introduction of some packaging work.

The Press reported yesterday how the unions had reluctantly accepted Nestl's rationale for transferring production of Smarties, the iconic children's chocolate beans, to Germany, and of Drifter and Matchmakers to other factories in England.

The transfers are part of the company's plans for a restructuring of the York factory, which are set to lead to 645 redundancies.

The unions had last month presented counter-proposals which involved keeping production of the three brands in York and could have saved up to 200 jobs. Mr Kirk said he was disappointed that this could not happen after a great deal of hard work had been carried out by union members on site.

But he stressed that the idea of bringing some confectionery packaging work back to the site was still under consideration, potentially saving some jobs - although he did not yet know how many.

He said such packaging was currently carried out elsewhere, outside the York area. The company has said it will continue to assess the feasibility of retaining some co-packing operations in York.