SKILLED workers are preparing to get involved in a national protest after being sacked from their jobs at Northwich's canal workshop.

The workshop in Navigation Road is due to close today, Wednesday, after running for more than 100 years in the town. It is part of a shake-up of British Waterways' national operations.

Ron Yarwood, Mid-Cheshire branch secretary of the union Amicus, vowed to fight the decision on both local and national levels and described the job cuts as 'crazy'.

Workers and other interested parties have already raised £3,000 towards their campaign and they held a vigil at Moss Farm on Friday night to protest against the redundancies.

Weaver Vale MP Mike Hall is backing the employees. He described today as 'a sad day for Northwich'.

He said: "I think this is a retrograde step. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered about who will carry out the work when they are gone.

"It seems it is a decision taken for short-term financial reasons and it's ignoring the long-term needs of the waterways."

Mr Yarwood, who has been fighting on behalf of the 14 workers who are being made redundant, said they would be starting a petition to show the strength of feeling in the area about the cuts.

He said some workers were having their appeals for unfair dismissal heard today but others had already left after deciding not to work their notice.

He said: "It's crazy. There's a massive amount of work for them to do but they would rather send them home. We're going to organise a campaign to take this message out to the consumers."

Ian White, director of technical development for British Waterways, said the redundancies were unfortunate but there was no other option.

He said: "We have been looking for opportunities to redeploy people from Northwich but there haven't been the vacancies in the rest of the organisation that people wanted to take up."

rbabington@guardiangrp.co.uk