AROUND 30 jobs have been axed at a local textile company.

Workers at Ainsworth Finishing Company arrived for work last week to find that the company had gone into voluntary liquidation and that they had been made redundant.

Company bosses directed employees to a meeting where they were told of the job losses by Preston-based insolvency practitioners, Begbies Traynor.

It is thought a dozen people have been kept on until next week to wind down the company at Ainsworth Mill in Bury New Road on the Bury-Bolton border.

Union chiefs are to appeal to Government ministers, accusing the company management of an asset-stripping exercise. They say workers at the colouring and dyeing plant had been sent home without redundancy pay or money owed to them in lieu of notice.

Employees have also been told that they will not receive their final week's wages and must claim the money owed to them from the Government. One employee, who has been with the company for 23 years, said: "It was such a shock. We could see that there was no work coming our way recently but we thought we'd get some notice if our jobs were going.

"I have a wife and a 15-year-old son to support."

The company, formed in 1825, has changed hands three times in the past 20 years, with the current owners taking over 18 months ago.

Regional industrial organiser for the Transport and General Workers' Union, Peter Reid, said: ""We've not had any consultation and will be pursuing the company through employment tribunals to gain a protective award for employees."

Employees face a wait of up to three months before they receive a state payout.