Disgraceful. As low as Detroit can be, even they would hesitate to fire people on such short notice.
There was anger today as BMW confirmed that 850 jobs were being cut by ending weekend working at its Mini car plant near Oxford.
The cuts will mostly affect agency workers when they come into force from 2 March when the plant begins operating five days a week, instead of the current seven.
Union sources said workers booed and threw apples and oranges at managers after being told they were losing their jobs.
Agency workers leaving Cowley this morning expressed their fury at being given just one hour's notice of the redundancies.
"It's a disgrace. I feel as though I've been used," said one worker. "We should have been given one month's notice, not one hour."
Axed agency staff were given the grim news in meetings at the factory following weekend speculation that hundreds of jobs were to go.
Almost a third of the Cowley workforce are agency staff and some complained today they would not receive any redundancy pay.
The contract staff, who have few employment rights, were brought in to work alongside full-time employees on the production lines, which built 230,000 vehicles last year.
