South

Many of those workers were told they'd lost their jobs just an hour before their last shift ended.

Their anger against the union was recorded on mobile phones.

Why did it happen?

BMW took over producing Minis at the Cowley plant in 2001 and, until the recession hit, had been so successful that the factory went to seven day a week working.

Success with seven day a week working

But many of the shifts were filled by temporary agency workers who made up 30% of the workforce.

So when BMW wanted to cut back production because people were no longer buying cars – it was the agency workers who were first in line to lose their jobs.

Agency workers have very little employment protection and are not entitled to redundancy pay.

But they are due to be given more protection in the future.

New legislation

EU legislation, which will be introduced by 2011, will give temporary workers at least basic working and employment conditions after 12 weeks.

BMW says it has to have flexibility to meet peaks of demand which is why it uses agency workers – but many of them have worked at the BMW factory for years.

There was huge anger when they were called to a meeting an hour before their shift ended and told to clear their lockers as they were no longer required.

BMW spokesman, Graham Biggs told Inside Out:

"We've been working with the unions for the last four months, so, hand-in-hand the senior management team at the plant have been working with the unions to agree and decide how we adjust the production to meet the demand of cars that we have.

Dave Osborne: union working for compensation

"So they've been involved throughout this process and the way it's been communicated and what's been done is something that they've been party to."

Union 'knew nothing'

Dave Osborne from Unite says the national union knew nothing of the announcement until it was made and that the union is now working to try to get their members some sort of compensation.

But for workers like Rob Gibson – whose mortgage protection policy would have kicked in if he’d been made redundant just a few days later – it may be too late.

Having lost his job he is now desperately trying to find alternative work and keep his house.