The factory is due to close in October 2003

Workers at the Sara Lee plant in West Auckland were told on Thursday the factory was to close in October with the loss of 340 jobs.

The site had been under threat since Marks and Spencer (M&S) decided to have its exclusive Autograph range made abroad to cut costs.

Brendan Barber, of the TUC, said other companies face the same threat.

He said: "We can't change the markets and there is no doubt there is a lot of low cost competition overseas for parts of British industry, particularly manufacturing.

I don't think we have any job prospects. I think we will be going on the dole queue like everyone else. Eileen Simpson, worker

"We are seeing something like 10,000 jobs a month going out of our manufacturing sector.

"I think there are things we can do.

"We can support workers who are facing some of those pressures by pressing for retraining so people can move over more easily into the new jobs that are coming into the economy

"We could do a lot better than we are doing at the moment."

Last-ditch talks between unions and management at Sara Lee Courtaulds, in West Auckland, failed to secure the future of the site.

No competition

The closure is the latest in a series of blows to manufacturing in the Wear Valley area.

These include the closure of an electrical factory in Bishop Auckland and the former Blue Circle cement works in Weardale.

There have been 822 job losses in the Wear Valley since the start of the year - 4% of the total jobs available.

Eileen Simpson, who has worked at the factory for 36 years, starting when it was called the West Auckland Clothing Company, said the future looked bleak for the workers.

She said: "I don't think we have any job prospects. I think we will be going on the dole queue like everyone else.

"I blame cheaper imports. People working for 40p an hour in places like Morocco. We can't compete with those places."