OUTRAGED Littlewoods workers have blasted job axe plans as an "insult to the town" and "a major snub".

Angry staff, still reeling from this week's shock news that 578 jobs are to go at Littlewoods' Holden Mill, and the Dove and Blackrod distribution centres, have hit out at the company famed for its strong working-class roots.

USDAW representative at Holden Mill, Astley Bridge Lanny Greenwood, said: "The Moores family who own Littlewoods have made an awful lot of money out of the people of Bolton.

"This is not just a snub on the workforce but a major insult to the people of Bolton who have helped make the company what it is today.

"Loyalty counts for nothing."

The grim announcement, part of a rolling wave of jobs cuts across the town, left workers shocked and dismayed.

Many claim the news came as a double blow - after recent reassurances from Littlewoods that production was being stepped up at the Blackburn Road packaging mill.

Furious Jean Yates, who has worked at the Holden Mill site for more than 20 years, says the September closure will be a triple blow for her family.

"Both my sons, Lee and Darren, will also lose their jobs. They have homes of their own. It will completely devastate my family." Lynn Swift, who has worked at the company since it set up 23 years ago, said: "We all were told that packaging at Holden Mill would be increased.

"Many have taken out mortgages and loans on the strength of this. Now they have been told they are to lose their jobs."

USDAW, whose membership reflects 80pc of the workforce, are holding crisis talks with top-level management next week.

The packers at the Blackburn Road depot have not yet been told of a redundancy package.

They have told the BEN that the mill has undergone a series of revamps over the past 12-months which will be 'mothballed'.

USDAW official Craig Lowe, a bulk stock handler at Holden Mill, whose wife, Janice, will also be made jobless, stormed: "There are a lot of people who are annoyed about comments made by Littlewoods claiming that the workers knew about this closure two years ago. "That's ridiculous. We have all taken out mortgages and loans after they printed their review saying how our jobs will be safe. "We were all under the impression that Holden Mill would become the centre of the operations."

Despondent workers say alternative job offers have been put forward, but these are only part-time vacancies.

Many workers based at the Astley Bridge mill are unable to drive and say they will not be able to afford to relocate.

Littlewoods, which employs 14,000 Borth-west workers, are offering work in the company's new £45 million complex in Shaw, near Oldham.

However, single mum Janet Belshaw, of Astley Bridge, said: "Everyone has been gutted. We all keep bursting into tears.

"I don't drive and to travel would cost me at least £10-a-week in bus fares. I can't afford that."

Neil Perkin, also of Astley Bridge, has been a packer since he left school: "I started working for Littlewoods when I was 17, I'm 34 now. That's half a lifetime. There's many others like me - what do we do now?"

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.