ABOUT 1,200 North-west textile workers face an uncertain future following the decision by Coats Viyella to put parts of its business up for sale.

The troubled giant is to divest itself of its Contract Clothing, Home Furnishings and Branded Clothing businesses, threatening up to 5,000 jobs if buyers are not found.

The main effect in the North-west is in Swinton-based CV Home Furnishings Ltd, a company which employs a total of 3,500 people throughout the country.

This includes 230 at Swinton, 161 at Egerton Mill in Egerton Street, Farnworth, 42 at Vantona on the same site, 308 at Stott & Smith in Horwich and 113 at the Ainsworth Finishing Company.

Mr Max Playfer, personnel director for Coats Viyella, said he suspected that elements of the Home Furnishings division would be sold separately.

The decision to sell follows a succession of redundancies and closures over recent years which have included the loss of 90 Farnworth jobs in Cawdor Street this summer.

Late last year it was announced that both its Dorma factories in Bradley Fold and Atherton were to shut, costing 164 and 118 jobs respectively.

Business advisers Deloitte & Touche are handling the sale of the Home Furnishings division through the firm's Manchester office.

One of the partners, Mr Maghsoud Einollahi, said the focus was to sell the business as a going concern and save thousands of jobs.

"We have already identified a number of potential purchasers and are in discussions," he said.

Mr Ron Steedham, regional organiser for the GMB union, said the announcement was "definitely bad news".

He said: "We have been through redundancies only four months ago which were supposed to pull it round."

Mr Steedham said their members could only "hang on in there" to see if buyers could be found.

"I will be calling on all the sites in the very near future," he said.

The Transport & General Workers' union has called for urgent government action to support the textiles industry.