A LEADING Burnley textile firm today announced 100 redundancies and blamed cheap foreign labour for the loss.

Car fabric manufacturer Viktor Achter is to close its cut, sew and trim department in November.

The news came on the day the last tyre rolled out of the doomed production line at Burnley's Michelin plant where 452 jobs have been lost.

Dave Wilfong, group managing director of Viktor Achter's European operations, said: "It is very disappointing for our employees who have worked hard at trying to make the business successful.

"The harsh reality is that most of our customers have left the UK and are now sourcing their business from low labour cost regions such as Portugal and Eastern Europe."

Burnley Council executive member for regeneration and economic development Coun Stephen Wolski warned the losses may only be the start as nationally 170,000 manufacturing jobs are expected to go in the next 12 months.

He also called for an urgent debate on entering the Euro.

Workers in the department off Billington Road, Burnley, spoke about an uncertain

future as their shift ended.

Diana Grattan, 37, is married with two children aged 10 and 16 and lives in Hapton. She has worked as an inspector at the department for six years.

She said: "It was a bit of a shock when they made the announcement and there were a few tears.

"It is a great place to work and I like who I work with and who I work for."

Maria Balmbra, 51, of Padiham, has been a line feeder in the department for eight years.

She said: "It did not come as a shock to me because business has been sluggish and with the strength of the pound you can only make so many price cuts."

The cut, sew and trim department which manufacturers head rests for cars was set up eight years ago.

The company became part of the privately-owned multi-national American-based Milliken group about seven years ago.

Mr Wilfong made the announcement to staff who

were said to be shocked, upset and disappointed that, despite their best efforts, the section would be closing.

Some of the department's work has steadily decreased over the last 18 months and some workers have already been reassigned to other departments.

The company currently employs 450 which will be trimmed to about 350 with the department's closure. But it is investing in the expansion of the fabric weaving department as well as adding new fabric finishing equipment so new jobs will be created on site.

Human resources manager David Salmon said: "The problem is the strong pound and the fact that we cannot remain competitive when non-European Union countries' labour rates are less than a quarter of ours.

"In the last two years the department has been working very hard to make it a successful business and had turned it around.

"It was a very sad day when we had to inform the staff of the closure, many felt they had given it their best shot."

Coun Wolski added: "As a union convenor myself, I have been in a position to be involved in redundancies. It is a hammer blow to workers.

"A debate on going into the Euro needs to be held sooner rather than later.

"Because Burnley is so heavily reliant on manufacturing we pay a high price."