A COMPANY which was once the area's biggest employer is axing 220 jobs and moving production to Asia.

Factory workers are reeling from the news that they will lose their jobs at Volex Powercords -- less than five years after its new factory opened in Leigh.

The massive cutback has been described as "a sad loss to the community" by divisional managing director Tom Barber which he said were necessitated by "difficult times" for the company.

Yesterday (Wednesday) Leigh MP Andy Burnham was meeting Trade and Industry chiefs in Westminster seeking urgent, positive action after this latest blow to the area's industry.

The Volex Group -- part of the former Ward and Goldstone empire which locally employed thousands at Leigh, Hindley Green and Hindsford -- has revealed it is to merge two of its European cable equipment manufacturing units to cut capacity and save money.

As a result its new factory, opened at Greenfold Way on Leigh Business Park in 1997, will drastically reduce its operations.

Unions are negotiating with managers over redundancy packages for staff, some whom have worked at the company for 20 years.

Staff will be kept on until April, with a handful of workers left to run the factory as a warehouse with one automated production line. The company was forced to axe 325 jobs last year and 100 jobs in 1999 because of a more competitive market.

Mr Barber said: "We were once Leigh's biggest employer. It is a sign of the times, these are difficult times.

"It will be a sad loss to the town. We have yet to negotiate how many staff will continue to work on site, but our products will now be manufactured in factories in Asia."

Now Mr Burnham is urging the DTI to explore every retraining possibility and emphasised the need for a continuous rather than short-term help programme.

He said: "Volex has a long association with Leigh and it's sad top see the company moving jobs away from the town. It is another blow to our local manufacturing base that we just can't afford.

"But most of all it is devastating news for the families affected. They are my immediate priority and I will be doing whatever I can to help.

"I want the DTI to open urgent talk with Volex and in particular to see whether funding is available for retraining.

I am also seeking an urgent meeting with Volex managememnt to discuss both the handling of the redudancies and the long-term future of their remaining operations in Leigh."