ANGRY workers at chemical manufacturer Thermphos are up in arms after receiving 'shocking' news that a quarter of the 120-strong workforce is to be axed.

A number of employees at the Widnes site in Earle Road - a specialist manufacturer of phosphates and polyphosphoric acid - claim to be 'confused' over the management's decision to get rid of 30 production jobs after they claimed they were told the business was 'flourishing'.

One worker, who does not want to be named because of fears he could be one of the 30, said: 'We were told that the business was doing well not so long ago and now we have been forced to attend a union meeting and the bombshell was dropped by management.

'I and a number of my workmates have worked for the company for years and years and to be told that we may not have a job in so many weeks' time has come as a massive shock to all of us.

'We all have families and we all need to put food on the table.

'Now we face the prospect of not having a job come the end of the month.'

Another worker claims that more managers have been introduced instead of production staff.

He said: 'We feel like we have been infiltrated with managers over the past months.

'We have quite a few managers and now the company decides to cut the workforce by a quarter - it does not add up.'

Paul Brennan, managing director of Thermphos UK, confirmed that there will be redundancies at the Widnes site due to the company losing money.

Mr Brennan said: 'Unfortunately we have had to take this difficult decision as we cannot see and alternative way to keeping some of the workers on.

'We have a plan to secure the future of the remaining workforce and to do that we have had to cut 30 employees.

'Last Tuesday was the start of the consultation process with the union where we made our proposals to them.

'And over the next 30 days we will speak to the union to see if we can come up with alternatives.'