Staff speak of shock at job axe as agency workers hired

The Caterpillar-run Turner Powertrain Systems is proposing to axe 70 per cent of its workforce with work being moved overseas, as was revealed earlier this month.

The new agency workers are being hired to meet current production requirements, the firm said.

And current staff, who will be let go between October and April, have hit out at the firm, saying they feel 'used and mistreated'.

Two Turner Powertrain employees have contacted the Express & Star to express their disgust at the proposed job cuts.

One said he had put down a deposit on a house two days before the redundancy news broke, after being previously told that the company's future was secure.

The man, who asked not to be named, has a young daughter and said the announcement had come as a huge shock.

"I feel completely used and mistreated," he said.

"We were told at an employee meeting in July that all the rumours we heard of the factory shutting were false and we had work through 2015.

"It's been completely devastating. I believe the average age of the workforce is 42 and most of these people have mortgages and families.

"It's 200 people's lives that are going to be affected."

Talks are ongoing between management and trade unions over the job cuts in a consultation expected to last six weeks.

Work is being moved to India, France and the US with the firm saying the cuts were in response to 'worsening marketing conditions'.

Another long-serving employee, said most of his colleagues were still in shock and added: "Some of these people have done 20 to 30 years of service.

"And we find it very strange that the company is taking these new staff on at such a difficult time."

Caterpillar Wolverhampton bought the family owned Turner Powertrain Systems in 1996. In 2008, 70 jobs were lost.

The works, in Racecourse Road, date back to 1859 and are park of Caterpillar's advanced components and systems division. In total 289 people are employed at the site.

Spokesman Erik De Leye said of the 11 new staff: "As part of normal operations we have raised a requisition to bring 11 agency workers into the business through our supplier Randstad.

"This is to meet current production requirements which cannot be met through other means at the moment.

"The ongoing consultation is about an expected significant decrease in production volumes."

Days after Caterpillar made its announcement, aerospace firm Timken revealed it would shut its Wolverhampton factory with the loss of 84 jobs,