Yesterday (Thursday) the company confirmed what employees had been dreading - 93 expected redundancies.

Staff were told the news as they came off the night shift.

There will now be a 30-day consultation period to determine the precise number of redundancies. Once that figure has been agreed, the job losses will take "immediate effect".

Glasgow-based accounts director Mr Brian McClean said, "The company will work with the union and employees in an attempt to minimise the hardship. This is very difficult for everybody concerned.

"No-one - neither workers nor management - has done anything wrong. It's attributable to nothing more than the economic climate worldwide. There has been a huge downturn in our European forklift orders and, as a result, output."

Carn plant manager Mr Alan Little said, "For the last few months we have seen a significant reduction in demand within the European forklift truck market. As producers of capital equipment goods, unfortunately our products have been among the first to be affected by the much-publicised economic slowdown.

"In reaching this regrettable decision, we have not only considered the potential demand for the remainder of 2008, but have also taken a view of the first half of 2009.

"Even with this longer-term strategy, clearly we are overmanned at existing levels.

GLOBAL

"We have been communicating closely with our employees and their representatives over the last number of months and following today's announcement we will now enter a period of consultation."

He added, "The company is committed to safeguarding as many jobs as possible in the Craigavon plant during this difficult time in the global economy."

Currently the Craigavon factory employs 712 people, 410 in shop-floor production. But with the number of trucks manufactured having dropped from 100 to just over 50 per day in the past year, 120 temporary employees have already been laid off.

Representatives of the production workers' trade union, Unite, had been involved in talks prior to yesterday's announcement and two weeks ago acting senior shop steward Kieran Lavery told the Portadown Times that production of the Newgen - a new electric truck - was due to start in January 2009 and the hope was to protect jobs up until that point.

He added, "But it has not yet been confirmed that production of the Newgen will be at Carn, so there are no guarantees. Ultimately that decision will be made elsewhere - probably America - rather than here.

"Management at Carn seem to be putting a lot of faith in us getting that work.