FRENCH conglomerate Lafarge has been accused of rubbing salt in the wounds of workers it is making redundant at its North-East plant.

The firm has removed Blue Circle Industries signs from outside its cement works at Eastgate in Weardale, County Durham.

In their place, signs reading Lafarge Cement UK have gone up - only a few months before the plant closes.

The company has also put Lafarge logos on its fleet of cement tankers, and switchboard operators have been instructed to answer calls by saying "Lafarge Cement UK".

Unions officials at the plant, where 147 workers have been told they are due to be paid off in July, are furious at what they describe as a "ludicrous" and "totally insensitive" move. GMB works convenor Bill Wilthew said: "At a time when the lads have been totally gutted by the closure announcement, this is like adding insult to injury."

Mr Wilthew, who has worked at Eastgate for 37 years, added: "The changing of the name of the plant at this time has caused a lot of bad feeling.

"Most of the lads are furious. When I finally walk out of this plant, however, it will be as a Blue Circle man - not a Lafarge worker."

Lafarge bought out Blue Circle Industries in July last year.

Durham County Councillor John Shuttleworth, who has been fighting to try to save the cement plant, said: "This is just another example of the ham-fisted way the UK management of Lafarge has attempted to handle what is a devastating blow for Weardale."

He is calling for the resignation of Lafarge's UK chief executive, Richard Olsen, and operations manager, Rob Davies.

A Lafarge spokesman in London said the company recognised it was a very difficult time for its workers in Weardale, but the decision to change the company's signs had been taken last month and applied to all its plants in Britain.

He said the cost of the changes at Eastgate was £1,700.

The company will retain the Blue Circle brand name on its products.

A task force set up in the wake of the plant closure announcement met for the first time yesterday, chaired by Dr John Bridge, of regeneration agency One NorthEast.

Representatives of Durham County Council, Wear Valley District Council and County Durham Development Company met senior Lafarge managers at the agency's Newcastle offices and pledged to secure long-term employment opportunities for employment in Upper Weardale