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98 staff who were on temporary contracts are to be laid off, and remaining staff have had the number of days they work each week cut. The company has introduced 14 "non production days" until the new year in its stamping departments.听 It'll mean 520听 staff could have to work 3 day weeks.

The car manufacturer says it's had to introduce the measures because it鈥檚 taking them longer to sell goods. They are also not selling the volume they were previously.

Ford currently employes 4,500 people across it's Dagenham operation. But now unions are worried about the future of remaining staff. Justin Bowden from the GMB union said whilst he could sympathise with Ford鈥檚 position in the current economic climate, he wanted reassurances for his members:

Wind turbine at Ford plant

鈥淲e have to be very concerned that 98 jobs going now is just the start of the possible job losses鈥� he told me.

鈥淭here are other temporaries employed at Dagenham and the GMB is very concerned that those people鈥檚 jobs may also be under threat鈥nd鈥or the more permanent staff there is the possibility of a knock on effect for them.鈥�

He continued " Ford of Europe bosses took huge bonuses this year and they're now laying people off. Unfortunately our members affected find very great difficulty in reconciling those two positions."

But a spokesman for Ford said that current market conditions left them with no choice but to make the cuts. He also stressed that staff were given basic pay on the "non production days", although this is less than they would normally earn.

In a statement a spokesman for Ford said:

鈥淔ord plants across Europe are aligning production with softening vehicle market conditions.听 This is to minimise unsold stock and associated storage costs etc.听

It is normal business practice to monitor the market and adjust output up or down in line with demand.鈥�