NEARLY 100 Lancaster and Morecambe families face Christmas on the dole after Reebok laid off warehouse staff this week The Citizen can reveal.

Some 47 workers employed by Fashion Logistics at the Reebok site on the White Lund were given their marching orders within hours of starting work on Tuesday morning.

The day before 51 agency workers had been shown the door.

Several former staff immediately contacted the Citizen to complain about the way they were sacked.

They claim a supervisor picked individual staff as they went about their work and called them to the office. They were then told to leave immediately.

The W0hite Lund warehouse took on extra staff earlier this year following a decision to store and distribute clothes previously housed at Brimestone in London. One worker contacted The Citizen and said: "I have kids but now I don't have a job for Christmas. It's even worse for some of the other lads.

"They weren't the best firm to work for - but me and my partner and the kids need the money. They had us painting the place to look nice as the supervisor was picking off lads one by one. It seemed to be at a whim.

"We were all taken to the office for the bad news. When it was my turn I still didn't know what was going on so it still came as a shock. They had us in all hours completing work. None of us was allowed any time off for the last four weekends. They were obviously wanting us to finish work off so they could sack us before Christmas.

"As I say, I'm in a better position than most. Some of the lads had spent everything they have on their kids' presents."

A spokesman for Fashion Logistics said that staff reductions had come from agency personnel, who were employed specifically to handle the annual peaks, as well as temporary staff.

He said: "Whilst we very much regret the impact of these changes on the individuals concerned, there is no question that the Lancaster Distribution Centre continues to have a very healthy future serving our major client."

Lancaster MP Hilton Dawson was saddened by the news of the job losses and commented: "It's clearly regrettable that these people have not been kept on. They were on short-term contracts which seems to be the reality of business these days."

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