Derry textile workers suffered another blow yesterday with news that the CV Home Furnishing factory at Maydown will close. By George Jackson, in Derry.

The 180 staff at the plant were given the news by management yesterday morning. The announcement followed several weeks of speculation about the future of the factory, owned by the Dormer Group Ltd.

The news brought the number of job losses in the textiles industry in Derry to almost 500 in the past fortnight.

Mr Alan Elliott of the GMB trade union said it was devastating news, particularly coming so close after last week's announcement by the Desmonds textiles company that it is to cease operations at two of its factories in Derry with the loss of 315 jobs.

"It's been a dreadful week for people employed in the textiles industry," he said.

"Last week it was Desmonds and now this. It was a very difficult meeting with the workforce this morning. They have been allowed to go home early this morning because they're unable to continue working following this news.

"But when they come back in to work on Monday, they will do so in a dignified manner and they will continue to work until the plant closes next month.

"The local management here have done everything they could to maintain jobs but, because of the increased outsourcing of the manufacturing process, there was basically nothing they could do.

"This brings to a total of almost 600 jobs lost in the textiles industry in the Derry area in the last three weeks," he said.

A spokesman for the Dormer Group said the decision was made following a £9 million (€13.6 million) decline in sales last year.

"Pressure from our own label customers to reduce our prices in order for us to retain significant volumes of business has had a major impact on our profit. It has not been possible to effectively compete against lower cost imports," a spokesman said.

"As a result of that, we had a £9 million decline in sales last year."