Up to 90 jobs under threat at JCB

JCB said employment in Staffordshire has increased by 44%

About 90 people working for the Staffordshire digger-maker JCB may lose their jobs or be redeployed as a result of the credit crunch, the company said.

The factories affected are based in Cheadle, Uttoxeter and Rugeley.

The firm said there has been an impact on global business and "this situation has continued to worsen significantly during late March/early April".

It said it aims to minimise the risk of redundancy by releasing agency workers and redeploying JCB employees.

'Some redundancies'

A 30-day consultation period started on Monday.

In a statement, the company said: "We are now seeing reduced production volumes which has an impact on production manning levels.

"As a result we have to take some difficult actions in the short term to ensure the business remains lean, efficient and competitive.

"Unfortunately, these actions are expected to include some redeployment of employees and some redundancies."

Employment in Staffordshire increased by 44% between December 2005 and December 2007 to about 5,700.