FORTY-FIVE jobs are to go at electric motor manufacturer Brook Crompton.
The firm - which marks its centenary this year - has issued 30-day notices to the staff affected.
About 150 people work at the Huddersfield site. It is the latest round of job cuts for Brook Crompton, which once employed many hundreds at factories in Huddersfield and Honley.
Workers said they were also concerned by reports that the firm's parent group had closed a factory in China.
The job cuts at Huddersfield come as property agents agreed the sale of Brook Crompton's former main office building at its headquarters in St Thomas's Road, Longroyd Bridge. A deal with an unnamed buyer is expected to be signed this week.
One worker said: "We are gutted. There are jobs going on the shopfloor and in the offices and it will leave only 100 at the firm. We are also very worried because we have heard our parent company has shut its main site in China, getting rid of hundreds of people. A lot of our work is done for China so the fear is the contracts will dry up."
The worker said: "I started at Honley, as did many people here, and we have seen that site shut down and this place go bit by bit. It is looking very bleak."
Graham Harries, UK managing director for Brook Crompton was meeting union officials today and was unavailable for comment.
The company is also closing its Guiseley factory, near Leeds, with the loss of all 225 jobs, and is cutting jobs at its specialist motor plant in Blackheath, West Midlands.
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