A group of employees started a protest outside the "Bright" plastic company yesterday, causing a huge traffic jam in the area. It (know) last week that more than 80 workers would be dismissed in the next days.

The general manager confirmed that the factory needs to reduce costs. During last year, the company (have) to face the economic crisis by slowing down the production.

Their budget has been very tight since then, and now they (need) to make new adjustments.

"We (only, tell) about this a few days ago," said John Tylor, representing the workfoce.

"It was a complete surprise for us all. They (should, inform) us about the situation before and try to get to a better solution. But instead they (decide) to give the sack to a large number of workers."

"Since the factory was opened in 2005, new people (hire) every month. Now, all of a sudden they want to get rid of almost half of their workforce. How are these people going to live on, pay their mortgages, find a job? It's about time companies such as this (start) thinking about the effects of their policies on local communities."

When the general manager (ask) what was being done to help the dismissed employees, he declared: "We (make) every effort over the last month to keep every job and every position, but unfortunately ths situation has gone out of control and there's nothing else that we can do. We will eventually pay double compensation for dismissal and send letters of recommendation to other companies that may be interested in hiring our trained professional people."