SHOCKED workers at Ulverston's Glaxo plant were left considering their futures following a "cataclysmic" announcement yesterday that the company plans to shed 400 jobs.

Stunned staff leaving the plant after the day-shift yesterday (Thursday) were tight-lipped about the news, but the area's MP John Hutton described it as a "bitter blow" for workers, their families and the Furness economy.

The announcement came at 3pm yesterday at a special meeting in the staff canteen where workers were "briefed on management proposals to defend the site's main business against competition." If the company goes ahead with the proposals, 400 jobs will be lost over the next two years.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) spokeswoman Kate Levine later told the Gazette that competition from other manufacturers copying GSK drugs had forced the company to consider stopping making a key antibiotic ingredient, known as 7ACA, at Ulverston and buy it instead from manufactures in Europe and Asia.

John Mowatt, national secretary of the Trade and General Workers Union, the biggest union on site, said: "This is cataclysmic news for Cumbria and for the men and women who will lose their jobs." He promised that the union would stand by its members "to ensure that every single one will be piped ashore with dignity" and said officials and Ulverston shop stewards would be meeting the director of the company as a matter of urgency.

Gary Owen, regional representative of the Amicus MSF union, which represents 283 mainly technical and scientific staff on the site, said: "We have just come back after a second round of voluntary redundancies.

On the back of this now I cannot imagine they will be very upbeat - it is virtually half the plant."

Mr Owen confirmed that Amicus and other unions at the plant were scheduled to meet management from October 4.

Colin Hodgson, Ulverston town councillor and leader of the district council, told the Gazette: "I just feel extremely sorry for the people who are going to be affected although it is not just the workers, the majority of them will have wives and children.

It will have a knock-on effect on the shops in the town and the whole local economy."

Ulverston Mayor Coun Dave Miller said the job losses could have devastating effects on the whole Furness area.

"It is a sad thing for the community as well as those that are going to lose their jobs.

I don't know just what effects it will have on the town but it will certainly not be a positive thing.

I am concerned that even after voluntary redundancies some young people will lose their jobs.

When I say young, I am thinking about people in their 40s who will find it very difficult to find work."

GlaxoSmithKline is the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world.

Last year it posted a pre-tax profit of more than £ 6billion and, for the first six months of 2002, their accounts show pre tax profits of almost £2.5 billion.

Miss Levine said that the job losses were only part of proposals and that the company would now engage in at least 90 days of consultation with the unions and employee representatives.

If the jobs were to be lost she said, the company would try to "minimise the impact" by seeking voluntary redundancies where possible and retraining workers.

One day shift worker leaving the plant on North Lonsdale Road yesterday, and who asked not to be named, said: "I was very shocked by the announcement and I think a lot of other people were too.

I think a lot of people will find it hard to come to terms with."