What makes this decision especially worrying is the way that workers were not kept informed of the company's plans

Gordon Adam, North-east MEP

Mr Barras said: "We want to mitigate the number of redundancies and to see the company keep the Longbenton plant open in some capacity.

"We are hopeful we can save some jobs."

There is a 90-day consultation period for both sides to thrash out various issues.

Investment aid

Mr Barras said no-one had yet been served with their notice, nor had any criteria been laid down by the firm about who would lose their job in South Shields.

Since the redundancy announcement was made on 3 September there have been calls for Viasystems to pay back �17m of government aid.

The money was designed to encourage investment in the north-east of England.

Viasystems has received government grants

Viasystems received the cash over five years in a scheme aimed at creating jobs in areas of high unemployment.

The firm, which makes printed circuit boards, blamed a continuing downturn in the global electronics market for the job losses.

But North-east MEP Gordon Adam joined union criticism of the way the announcement was made.

He said: "What makes this decision especially worrying is the way that workers were not kept informed of the company's plans for Longbenton and South Shields."

'Volatile market'

Regional development agency One NorthEast is bringing together a task force to look at ways of reducing the impact of the job losses.

Chairman Dr John Bridge said: "Viasystems is involved in a particularly volatile market that has severely affected the productivity of its sites."

Viasystems transferred ownership of the Tyneside plants to EPCBG in March 2000, licensing the sites to continue to trade as Viasystems.