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| Job losses as company relocates | |
| (about 19 hours later) | |
| Around 250 jobs are being lost at a factory manufacturing car parts at Maesteg, south Wales. | |
| Cooper Standard Automotives plans to close its plant by December 2007, transferring the work to France and Poland, according to Bridgend Council. | |
| In a statement, the council said it understood the reason for the planned closure was reduced customer demand. | |
| The council and the Welsh Assembly Government said they were "disappointed" to learn of the closure. | |
| Bridgend Council leader, Councillor Cheryl Green, said: "This is sad news for the employees and their families. | Bridgend Council leader, Councillor Cheryl Green, said: "This is sad news for the employees and their families. |
| "Basically jobs are being moved elsewhere in Europe and this is happening unfortunately all over now," she added. | |
| "This is just the last in a series of manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the Bridgend area over the last number of years." | |
| The council said 246 employees would be affected by the closure. | |
| The company once employed 600 people but has been scaling down for the past 18 months. | |
| An assembly government spokesperson said: "Officials from the Department for Enterprise, Innovation and Networks have supported the company in a number of areas over the years. | |
| "More recently (the officials) have been in dialogue with them regarding the identification and implementation of cost-savings measures through a series of improvement initiatives. | |
| "We are very disappointed with this announcement and will continue to work closely with both the company and the employees to look at what further support can be provided." | |
| We need support in Maesteg badly to recover from this sort of position Councillor William Teesdale | We need support in Maesteg badly to recover from this sort of position Councillor William Teesdale |
| Ms Green said the council would also be doing all it could to help by working with the company and other partners to form a redundancy response team. | |
| The team would informing those directly affected about alternative job opportunities, training options, benefits and other support. | The team would informing those directly affected about alternative job opportunities, training options, benefits and other support. |
| Ms Green said the company was a "big employer" in the area. | |
| "There's going to be a big impact on some families - you might even get some families with up to four people working at that plant," she said. | |
| The plant is in a division of the global company manufacturing weather seals for car windows and doors. | The plant is in a division of the global company manufacturing weather seals for car windows and doors. |
| Bridgend councillor William Teesdale, whose Maesteg West ward includes the factory, said: "It's quite a blow. It's a lot of jobs going in a town of this size. | |
| "We need support in Maesteg badly to recover from this sort of position. These are jobs that people don't have to travel for." | |