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Friday, 14 February, 2003, 11:19 GMT
No reprieve for tractor workers
Massey Ferguson's Banner Lane plant
Every manufacturing job at the site will go in June
No manufacturing jobs will be saved when Coventry-based tractor factory Massey Ferguson closes in the summer.

The plant's American owners, Agco, have announced that only administrative workers will be kept on when production at the Banner Lane site ends in June.

A study conducted by the firm into the future of the plant recommended there was insufficient demand to retain manufacturing staff beyond the summer.

Unions had hoped about 100 people would stay making tractor components.

It is a black day for the community in Coventry

Peter Booth

Plant director Jim Brown said the company considered every opportunity to keep some manufacturing jobs.

He said: "We are focusing all of our efforts into making sure that employees affected by the closure are given the best possible support to help them find other employment."

Peter Booth, from the Transport and General Workers Union, said the announcement was deeply disappointing.

"It is fair to say there is a strong feeling of resentment and disappointment among the workforce, who understandably feel they have been strung along."

"It is a black day for the community in Coventry," he added.

The last tractor to be made at the Massey Ferguson plant rolled off the production line on Christmas Eve.


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24 Dec 02 | England
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