WORKERS at a lawnmower factory have reacted angrily after their employer began recruiting temporary staff while at the same time confirming 20 redundancies.

Bosses at Electrolux, which owns the Flymo plant at Aycliffe Industrial Estate, County Durham, confirmed 20 workers would lose their jobs.

However the planned redundancies come at the same time as a notice advertising vacancies for temporary workers.

One worker, who did not wish to be named, said: "There is a notice outside the security office door asking for forklift truck drivers and machinery staff, yet they still want redundancies.

"It is criminal the fact that they are paying-off full-time workers when they are holding interviews on Monday for these other jobs.''

The worker said that staff were particularly upset because only a couple of months ago they were promised there would be no more redundancies.

In June, 25 staff lost their jobs at Flymo in a round of voluntary redundancies.

Electrolux said it was giving workers until the end of this week to seek voluntary redundancy, but if not enough staff came forward it would begin cutting jobs next week.

The household appliances manufacturer also denied any link between the job losses and the temporary roles.

An Electrolux spokeswoman said: "There are no redundancies planned in the part of the factory where the temporary staff are being recruited. The new jobs are not designed to replace any of those that are going."

The spokeswoman denied that staff were told there would be no more job cuts following the redundancies in June.

She also refused to rule out future job losses at the plant.

She said: "No company can make that kind of promise. It is impossible to say how the business will develop."

Electrolux employs a total of 2,200 people in County Durham, at a cooker factory in Newton Aycliffe and at the Flymo site.

The group, which is the world's largest producer of appliances for kitchen, cleaning and outdoor use, reported a 39 per cent fall in half-year profits earlier this year following a factory closure and the settlement of a lawsuit.