THE decline of manufacturing in the North-East was last night blamed for job losses at a packaging plant.

SCA Packaging confirmed that it was planning to "streamline and refocus" its factory at Faverdale Industrial Estate, in Darlington.

The firm, which employs more than 200 staff at the site, would not reveal the likely scale of redundancies but The Northern Echo understands that 45 workers will be made redundant.

Union leaders will meet company bosses next week in a bid to reduce that number and to find out when the redundancies will happen.

The unions said last night that the company was not to blame for the cuts - rather the steady decline of manufacturing in the region.

Jackie Woodall, senior organiser at GMB, said: "There is going to be a restructure and it has been forced on SCA because of the decline in manufacturing.

"There are significant companies that have just packed their bags and gone and left the region.

"Some of the key customers that SCA had, like Samsung, are no more and because they supplied companies that have now gone out of business it is having a major impact. It is not about their ability to produce or their efficiency and it isn't the company that's failing.

"Companies like SCA are having to look at restructuring in the hope that they can take the business forward and build the business up again. They are going to have to look at different markets within the region."

Gerry Hunter, from Amicus, said: "This is more bad news for manufacturing. It is under intensive pressure and the pressure is coming from China, India and all the rest.

"What SCA has said to us is that it will be looking for voluntary redundancies first and after volunteers they'll review the situation."

An SCA spokeswoman said: "In response to the business migration seen in the consumer electronics sectors of the North-East, SCA Packaging has carried out a full review of its existing asset base.

"As a consequence this will result in a number of redundancies at the Darlington site.

"The company will be consulting employees and their representatives.

"All employment rights will be fully respected and the company will be reviewing possibilities for re-deployment."