DISABLED workers whose jobs are in jeopardy were joined by MPs and union leaders in the region for a series of demonstrations yesterday.

The Government recently announced plans to shut down 43 Remploy factories across the country, including five in the North-East.

Union leaders say the proposed closures would lead to more than 300 people in the region being put out of work, with most having little or no prospect of finding other jobs.

Yet the company insists no disabled worker will be made compulsorily redundant and the closures are part of a plan to find more mainstream jobs for disabled people.

A delegation of Remploy workers is visiting every site threatened with closure.

They arrived in the North-East yesterday to demonstrate outside the factories in Stockton, Hartlepool, Spennymoor and Jarrow.

A day earlier, they had been at the Ashington site.

Those gathered outside the Stockton base, in Alberto Street, chanted "sack the board" as they waved banners and placards calling for the Government to re-think its plans.

John Alexander, Remploy's senior steward for the GMB union, said: "If they close these factories, where will these people go?

"They keep talking about mainstream employment, but they are putting disabled workers all in one category.

"There is a great camaraderie at all the Remploy factories, but if you put a lot of these people in the mainstream, they would be totally isolated."

A spokesperson for Remploy insisted the company's proposals will quadruple the number of jobs found for disabled people within five years.

He said: "The unions' interest is only in maintaining loss-making factories which cost the taxpayer millions of pounds each year.

"This would prevent us from helping thousands more disabled people into employment each year.

"The response from the unions to these plans has been to threaten a strike.

"It must be the first strike in history against a company that was trying to create thousands of jobs."

The company says closing loss-making sites would enable it to invest more resources in finding jobs for disabled people in mainstream employment.

"We are already talking to charities and social organisations to find meaningful work, in a more supportive environment, for those who need this," the company pledged.

"Every disabled employee will have the support they need for as long as they need it."