UNIONS representing workers laid off by a Lancaster firm were shaping up for a battle with management this week.

Thirty staff at Driver-Woodeaves were left reeling after administrators, called in to rescue the troubled Caton Road factory, announced the job cuts.

The unions are furious that they were not consulted over the redundancies and are looking to take the textile company to an employment tribunal.

Workers thought their jobs were safe following a management buy-out five months ago but last week the 30 staff were laid off with little chance of any kind of redundancy package.

Administrators, BDO Stoy Haywood, claim the job cuts were necessary to protect the other 70 employees.

One stunned worker told the Citizen: "I've been there 14 years but I was called up to the office to see the receivers and they told me I no longer had a job and that there'll be no redundancy pay, no holiday money, nothing."

"I was given a form and told I could try and claim something off the government. A lot of people have put years into the company and to be treated like this is disgusting."

Another worker described how administrators broke the news: "We had 10 minutes to go until the end of our shift when we were called up. It wasn't easy getting our heads round the fact that we wouldn't be coming back.

"They told us we were in liquidation so there would be no wages or redundancy package. It was just 'Sorry, you're finished, now off you go'."

TGWU representative, Peter Reid, said that Woodeaves were legally obliged to consult the unions over the staff cuts. He was also concerned about the criteria used to select redundancies.

He said: "We are strongly considering taking the company and the administrators to an employment tribunal because of their lack of consultation. The first I heard about it was when two members contacted me to say they had been laid off.

"The company said there's no money to pay wages or redundancy and long-serving workers have been treated very shabbily."

The company was bought out by the management in March but the administrators were called in when trading conditions worsened.

The Corporate Recovery and Insolvency Department of BDO Stoy Haywood has taken over the company and a spokesman said they were acting to protect the remaining 70 jobs at the factory and were looking to restructure the company's commercial affairs.

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