FED-up workers at a Deeside factory have staged a protest amid fears that more jobs could be axed.

Union members waved banners and picket boards outside ConvaTec on Deeside Industrial Estate on Friday after learning that more work and equipment could be shipped to a factory in the Dominican Republic.

Jobs at the factory, which makes stoma and wound care products, has dwindled from 1,000 to 350 in five years, say Unite union officials.

More than 100 workers were offered voluntary redundancy from the factory in January.

Unite spokesman Leonard Jones told the Leader: “It’s coming up to Christmas and workers don’t want to go out and buy a load of presents if they will be on the dole in January.

“We think the factory has just landed a major contract for work. We want to know if the jobs are secure or if any will be lost.

“We just want to know what is going on.”

Bryan Apsley, Unite regional industrial organiser for North East Wales, added: “Workers have reported to us that they feel they’re being kept in the dark over the future of their jobs as the site is currently changing its entire production over to be a wound-care facility.

“Workers are genuinely concerned about the number of employees that will be left and their message is clear: So how many jobs will be secure and how many are going?”

The union were behind the mysterious ‘We Deserve Better’ signs on the roundabout on the approach to Zone Two of the park last month.

Company bosses insist that the site is performing well and had just secured new product lines.

Also at the protest was Connah's Quay councillor Aaron Shotton, who said: “Convatec is an important local employer and I am supporting the workforce in their calls for Convatec to commit to Deeside.

“It is important that their jobs are secure.”