CEMENT workers at a closing North-East plant have piled pressure on their bosses, with an impassioned plea to the community for support

Staff from Lafarge UK's profitable Eastgate works are appealing through The Northern Echo for help to save their jobs and others under threat in isolated Weardale, County Durham.

Up to 150 workers could be condemned to the dole queue when the company goes ahead with its plan to shut the works in July.

And the knock-on effect of closure could harm the fragile economy of the dale irreparably, leading to more job losses and a decline in population as young people leave to find work

Desperate Lafarge employees have been contacting The Northern Echo in frustration at the company's apparent refusal to co-operate with potential rescue deals.

Directors' insistence that cement-making would cease at Eastgate, despite expressions of interest from at least two possible buyers, was reinforced by a letter sent out to all staff, on Monday.

Managing director Richard Olsen told the employees: "I have to be very clear - our Weardale business is not for sale."

Workers responded by accusing the company of throwing away jobs and claimed there was major unrest at the plant, where there is a union meeting this morning.

One appealed: "Please keep up the pressure as we need these jobs in Weardale."

This week, Durham County Council chief executive Kingsley Smith urged Lafarge's chief executive in Paris, Bertrand Collomb, to intervene and allow a meeting between executives and an unnamed European manufacturer.

The dale's county councillor John Shuttleworth has written to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Patricia Hewitt asking for an investigation by the Competition Commission into the company's handling of the closure.

He said last night: "People in Weardale feel very bitter towards Blue Circle, who had always been regarded as good employers. This whole issue is crucial to the future of the dale. Almost every family either has someone affected by the closure."