ELECTRONICS company NEC is closing one of its plants with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs.
The semiconductor plant, in Livingston, West Lothian, will cease production from April.
Workers were told about the closure as they arrived for work. The company blamed a downturn in demand for its products.
In July this year, NEC Semiconductors announced 600 job losses at the plant, but said it hoped the facility could be saved. However, a spokesman said that due to a downturn in demand for mobile phone- related systems there was "no sign of recovery in the semiconductor market conditions".
The company said in a statement: "In line with NECs UK's suspended production, it is proposed that all of the 1,260 employees will be made redundant by March 2002."
The company said it would work with Government agencies and others to provide consultancy services to advise employees on training and finding new work.
NEC also said reopening the Livingston plant would be "examined" in the future after "further evaluation of market conditions and customer demand".
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