Anger as 850 Mini workers are axed by BMW – with only an hour's notice

THE car giant BMW sparked outrage yesterday after announcing 850 job cuts at its Mini factory, giving only an hour's notice to workers and leaving many with no pay-off.

Agency staff at the huge plant in Cowley, near Oxford, vented their anger on union leaders, pelting them with fruit before storming out of the plant saying they felt "betrayed".

Union chiefs attacked BMW, the German owner of the Mini, accusing it of using workers as "cannon fodder", and called on the government to give immediate rights to agency workers.

Derek Simpson, the joint general secretary of Unite, telephoned Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, pressing him to introduce a European directive on agency workers so those affected by the Cowley cuts would receive redundancy pay.

Tony Woodley, Unite's co-leader, described the treatment of the workers as "disgraceful". "We have demanded an urgent meeting with the chairman of BMW," he said. "This is no way to treat workers, and I personally shall be pushing BMW to revoke this decision and give people their jobs back."

The job cuts will affect only agency workers at Cowley, which will switch from seven-day-a-week production to five days from 2 March following a 35 per cent slump in sales last month.

Workers were given the grim news towards the end of their shift yesterday, shortly before a pre-planned, week-long shutdown of the plant.

One of the workers, Silvia Fernandes, said: "I've never been sick, I've never missed work and they tell me one hour before (my shift ended] that I have been sacked. That's why people are angry and so upset with BMW and with the union."

John Cunningham, who has worked at the factory for more than two years, said: "I feel betrayed. They've planned this for months and we've only just been told – one hour's notice. We've been given a week's pay for an enforced week off, which I suppose is a week's notice. I don't know what's going to happen to me and my family. It's very scary."

BMW said staff who currently worked weekend shifts at Cowley would be redeployed to one of the weekday shifts.

A statement issued by the company said: "While Mini has been weathering the economic downturn, it is not immune from the challenges of the current situation.

"Against this backdrop, the company felt that a review of its shift patterns was necessary. This decision has not been taken lightly. The plant's union representatives have, of course, been involved in the discussions."

A spokesman for Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister said: "This is very disappointing news and all I can say really is the government is doing, and will do, all we can to help those affected."

He added that a rescue package for the car industry, which was announced recently, was still being implemented.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said the news was "extremely depressing", adding:

"We need more action on credit. We need to make sure we get that finance moving."

Cowley, which can produce up to 260,000 cars a year, started building the Mini in 2001 and the marque has been hugely successful, with 80 per cent of the factory's output sold for export.

The latest bad news for the car industry follows thousands of job cuts in recent weeks, including 1,200 at Nissan, 850 at Ford, 600 at Aston Martin and 450 at Jaguar Land Rover.