Axed workers make London protest

Workers have also held a 24-hour protest

Axed workers from a Cumbrian textile plant travelled to London to call for better redundancy terms.

Stead McAlpin in Cummersdale called in administrators earlier this month and said 62 of its 124 posts would be lost.

The company was sold by John Lewis in 2007 and despite no longer owning it, workers believe it should help them.

John Lewis said the current tough economic climate could not have been foreseen and employees had been given payments at the time of the sale.

When the company, along with another company called JH Birtwistle, was sold as a going concern, the buyer Apex Textiles said it would honour John Lewis's redundancy payment arrangements for two years from the date of sale.

But since the company went into administration, it is not able to do so.

Take responsibility

Worker Alan McDermott said: "We want John Lewis to take some responsibility, they put us in this position."

He said about 40 workers made the trip to London to highlight their situation and show John Lewis they were not going to go away.

They went first to John Lewis headquarters and then handed out flyers on Oxford Street.

John Lewis personnel director Laura Whyte said: "We are very sorry that Apex Textiles has been unable to sustain its early success with Stead McAlpin and JH Birtwistle due to the current severe economic downturn - and that despite considerable investment, the commitment of the work force and the concerted efforts of the new management they have had to put the business into administration."