THE management of the Christian Salvesen warehouse have been accused of "deplorable behaviour" over the future of its workforce.

A member of staff claims the firm, due to partly shut down next month, is not issuing redundancy notices to workers with less than five years' service.

The firm needs to keep around 120 warehouse staff and drivers for the chilled food unit after agreeing to keep part of the operation going beyond its closure date.

The 27-year-old warehouseman says he is among staff not receiving redundancy terms of up to £3,000.

It means many workers will be forced to stay on against their wishes or lose out financially.

"People like myself have gone out and found alternative employment and some of them have had contracts back already," said the married father-of-one, who asked not be named for fear of reprisals.

"Now we're being told there will be 120 jobs available on a voluntary basis, but if you leave, you go without a redundancy payout, which is up to £3,000 depending on your length of service."

The warehouseman says staff are suspicious of the site's future following rumours that Sainsbury's is to buy it for £10m, plus the arrival of five new pieces of equipment for a part of the operation which is due to wind up next month.

Sainsbury's originally said it was pulling out of Droitwich altogether as part of a national distribution shake-up.

"You can imagine the stress levels people are under," he added.

"Morale is at rock bottom. I have had to turn another job down, but I am trying to plan for my future.

"If the warehouse doesn't shut and Sainsbury's take it over, the redundancies will be withdrawn, but we'll be on different contracts, with different rates of pay and different shifts.

Bob Shaw, of the Transport and General Workers Union, said Christian Salvesen and Sainsbury's needed to show their true colours.

"Their behaviour has been deplorable," he said. "They must have known in the first place they were going to keep it going until January next year. We are talking about people's jobs and futures."

A Christian Salvesen spokeswoman said the worker's claims were being investigated.