CONCERNS have been raised after one of west Suffolk’s major employers offered redundancy packages to the 730 staff at its Sudbury plant.

Delphi, which is a leading global supplier of electronics and technologies for the automotive industry with a major producing plant in Newton Road, confirmed that it had experienced a slow-down during the final quarter of the last financial year.

As a result, the company is offering voluntary redundancy as one option. It is also believed to have laid off all agency staff.

Last night, no-one from the company was available to give an official comment, but an employee, who did not want to be named, told the East Anglian Daily Times other options staff had been offered were taking three months off with 30% pay, or going part-time.

He said: “Most of us are not in a position where we can afford to take home less pay let alone redundancy so this situation is extremely worrying for all of us.”

Sudbury mayor, Jack Owen, who worked at Delphi for 37 years, including periods when it was known as CAV and Lucas, said: “The company is closely tied to the automotive industry which is suffering a drop at the moment and that is obviously having a knock-on effect.

“It would be extremely disappointing if they are asking the workforce to take a pay cut because they can ill afford to exist on a low wage and as most of the workers spend their money in the town, it will have an effect on trade.”

Chris Storey, chairman of Sudbury Chamber of Commerce added: “Delphi is one of the Sudbury’s biggest employers and an important business to the town in general.

“There are always going to be changes in the motor industry and companies have to make adjustments as necessary so it is difficult to predict what a certain set of circumstances indicates. But I very much hope Delphi will be able to ride through this and prosper into the future and I am sure most people in the town would agree.”

The social club at Delphi is managed by the town council and is the only public venue open for hire since the town hall closed as a function room last year.

Sudbury councillor John Sayers said: “The town council works closely with Delphi in a number of ways. They provide volunteers to help with projects and they run a staff lottery that funds the running of the Delphi (social) club.”

Delphi has major technical centres, manufacturing sites and customer support facilities in 30 countries worldwide.