Agency workers controversially employed at a Bodelwyddan factory have been told to go.
Last week, 37 workers at the Indesit factory in Kinmel Park were informed that they were no longer needed as the work was finished.
Indesit sparked anger when it took on staff from a recruitment agency rather than rehiring some of the 300 staff who were made redundant when the washing machine factory closed in 2009.
A spokeswoman for the firm said: “Indesit Company UK has been using the Kimnel Park site for temporary work that was unable to be accommodated at other sites. “The work will be completed and there is no further activity scheduled. The company is still actively looking for someone to take over the site as planned.”
John Humphries, a former machine operator at the plant, described the move to use temporary workers as “disgusting”, as some of the former contract employees had still not found work.
He said: “It’s just cheap labour. We’re all in the same boat as everyone else. They just want to put food on the table.”
Ann Jones AM said that she had been dismayed to hear rumours that the Indesit site had been reopened with the use of agency labour.
She said: “The company still intends on selling the site by tender. I am disappointed that no investors have come forward to take on the site. Any future business at the site must offer jobs on fixed term contracts to ensure that the loyal workforce that served the factory for more than 30 years are not cynically undercut by cheap, unprotected labour.”
Ms Jones also suggested the possibility of using the site for other purposes such as adult learning and that it was disappointing that Indesit chose to leave North Wales without considering the effects of such an abrupt departure on the community.