MORE than half of the 242 workers at a chemical plant were made redundant last night as the site’s beleaguered parent company called in administrators.

Unions said they were disgusted that La Seda De Barcelona had put its Artenius division at Wilton, near Redcar, east Cleveland, into administration, and accused the company of “cutting the North-East and its workers adrift” as it struggles to overcome the £564m group loss it made last year.

The 137 redundancies come as the latest blow to the multibillion pound Teesside chemical industry and to the Wilton site.

There have been recent closure announcements from Dow and Croda and the closure of Invista, as well as the closure of the nearby Elementis plant and lingering uncertainties over the North Tees Petroplus refinery.

The Artenius plant has remained profitable, and demand for its plastic products has remained strong.

Last week, Mark Kenrick, business director at the plant, told The Northern Echo it was in desperate need of investment from Spanish-owned La Seda De Barcelona.

But last night, administrators from Deloitte were forced to make the redundancies at Artenius’s T8 plant, which has been offline since March and which Mr Kenrick said has been impossible to restart given its financial predicament.

Its Melenar PET plant is still operational while administrators look for a buyer, though all future projects have been postponed.

Last night, Bob Bolam, from the Unite union, said: “Artenius has been cut adrift by its Spanish owner, and the plant and its workers have been cast into the wilderness.

“These workers who were told by administrators that they no longer have a job, despite working for ICI and Artenius, will now only qualify for state redundancy pay, as the company has been put into administration. We will be taking legal advice.”

Management at the Artenius division have praised workers for voting to accept a pay freeze and changes to their pension scheme.

Mr Bolam also expressed concern at the fact the T8 plant was offline. He said that with La Seda De Barcelona having insufficient funds to re-start it, the whole Artenius site may be less attractive to buyers.