Nissan has cut almost 250 staff at its Sunderland due to a global fall in demand for new cars.
Contracts will not renewed for 248 temporary staff as the automotive industry struggles with major issues that have been made worse by the coronavirus outbreak.
The job cuts come just a few days after Nissan resumed work on one of its production lines this week. A second production line is due to re-start on June 22 with both lines going to two shifts a week later.
A Nissan spokesman said: “Given current business conditions in Europe we are facing a period of reduced volumes in our Sunderland Plant.
“Unfortunately, therefore, we will not be extending the contracts of 248 temporary manufacturing staff at the plant.”
Nissan has always used temporary contracts as a way of providing flexibility, with numbers of workers increased or reduced to reflect demand.
But the number of job losses announced today is large, and comes at as the company is strugging with a number of factors affecting sales.
The Japanese company gave its Wearside operation a vote of confidence at the end of last month when the plant escaped a global restructuring plan that saw a site in Barcelona, Spain, earmarked for closure.
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But a week later Nissan warned it would not be able to sustain operations in the North East if Brexit negotiations failed to establish a trade deal and the 海角视频 fell back on World Trade Organisation tariffs for cars.
Last week, 130 job losses were announced at Envision AESC 海角视频, the electric vehicle battery plant that supplies Nissan, due to falling demand.
Automotive firms including Aston Martin and Bentley have also announced major job cuts, while Vauxhall said it would not resume production at its Ellsmere Port plant on Merseyside until September.
The crisis facing the automotive industry was made clear by figures released last month which showed that demand for new cars fell by around 97% in April, with only 4,321 new cars registered compared with 161,000 in the same month in 2019.
The job loss announcement came not long after concerned residents gathered outside the plant to urge the Government to extend the Brexit transition period.
The group of protesters said they were concerned the country was heading into a no-deal Brexit that would have damage the Nissan plant.
Campaigner Louise Brown said: “We’re in the middle of a pandemic, can we just pause with the Brexit transition process? There’s no shame in that.
“We can’t possibly do proper EU talks in the middle of the pandemic and no one would expect them to so please think of us in the North East along with many other jobs that might go in a no-deal and extend the transition period.”