The closures led to the Tele being contacted by a member of staff, who said the plant was now effectively working a three-day week and workers were fearful for their jobs.

However, personnel manager Ian Peart said the closures were not a surprise being sprung on the 800-strong workforce but part of an agreement made in January over working patterns during 2009.

He said demand for tyres had fallen globally during the economic downturn and Michelin were cutting their cloth accordingly.

Mr Peart said the approach being adopted was to try to manage a way through the downturn without shedding jobs and losing experienced workers.

The agreement between unions and management allows Michelin to ask workers to take 56 hours off on full pay in 2009 and work them back next year.

Staff also agreed to take a further 56 hours off on two-thirds pay during 2009 if necessary.

Mr Peart said the current closures were being achieved under the terms of the first part of the agreement.

He said today, “We sat down with the workforce and said to them 2009 was going to be a difficult year and we need a mechanism agreed between the trade union and company with regards to production.”

Mr Peart continued, “January and February were fine but in March demand has begun to drop. What we have done for March and April is use the first phase of the mechanism so there will be closure shifts to reduce our capacity.

“We don’t see it as being on a three-day shift — that is not correct — but what we do have is a number of days closure.

“The expectation at the moment is we will be running normally again in May.

“By doing it this way, it protects the workforce and makes sure we are ready for the market coming back.

“We are running normally this weekend but for the other weekends in March and April there will be an extended weekend closure.

“This is almost normal business for 2009 — it is not the beginning of the end — and we are considering the long term.”