THESE will be worrying days for the men and women who work in Bournville's iconic chocolate factory.
Its owner, the multi-national Cadbury Schweppes, has announced plans to cut its worldwide workforce by around 7,500 and to close several of its confectionery sites, though it has provided no details of where the axe will fall.
We can only hope that there is a long-term future for Bournville as its owner "restructures" - an innocuous word often used to disguise job losses and blighted futures.
Bournville is a name that is celebrated around the planet and that historically has been one of Birmingham's best-loved and most successful employers.
Who can forget the intoxicating smell of chocolate that wafts through the suburb's air on certain days? Which Brummie child hasn't been thrilled by a tour of the plant?
In recent years this city has lost HP Sauce and mass car production at Longbridge. Lucas is no more and tyre production has dwindled at Dunlop.
A serious threat hovers above Jaguar and Land Rover. A host of smaller but equally famous firms have also disappeared.
Enough is enough.
Birmingham's village suburb and the great factory it surrounds were established by men of vision and kindness.
The besuited number-crunchers who strut around their plush offices at Cadbury Schweppes' headquarters should reflect that they are custodians of a heritage far more important than wringing-out the last ounce of profit.