ONE of East Lancashire's biggest employers has been accused of a betrayal after axing 109 jobs.

Akzo Nobel, which has 650 staff at Crown House, Hollins Road, Darwen, will move manufacturing of its industrial paints to Sweden at the end of the year.

Last November bosses pledged there would be no job losses after the Competition Commission ruled that the Dutch firm had to sell its Crown Paint division following a takeover of rival chemical firm ICI.

Speaking at the time managing director of Akzo Nobel UK Howard Luft told the Lancashire Telegraph the business was a "big success story".

He said: "There will not be job losses. This company is being sold as a strong competing business. 2007 has been a great year for us."

Mr Luft was unavailable for comment today, but John Bowland, managing director for the industrial finishes department, said job losses were due to the "economic performance" of the site.

He said: "I am unaware of what Howard Luft said last year but there have been a lot of pressures on the manufacturing industry in this country recently. Following a review it has been decided to move the production abroad.

"We always try to avoid redundancies and we will work hard to make sure that job losses are as low as possible."

Darwen councillors branded the job losses a "betrayal" to the workforce following last year's assurances.

Coun Roy Davies, of the Sudell ward, said: "This is another body blow for employment in Darwen.

"It's a betrayal of the workers and the most disgusting thing is that at one time if you could not buy a product in Darwen then they did not make it."

Coun Tony Melia, of the Sunnyhurst ward, added: "It's a major blow to the town and a disgrace that they have gone back on their word.

"It's disgusting that this has happened."

Unions always had fears for the future and today's announcement to workers confirmed their concerns.

Bob Welham, senior GMB convener, said the announcement had come after a strategic review of operations carried out by Akzo Nobel head office in Amsterdam.

He said: "We are bitterly disappointed at this announcement and we will fight this all the way. The jobs will not be lost without a fight.

"A consultation period is now set to begin and we will make it very clear that this is the wrong decision for the company.

"Akzo Nobel portrays itself as a socially responsible company but this will have a very negative impact on Darwen.

"There are few skilled jobs around and these job losses will be felt hard.

"We were told jobs were safe and this is a huge blow to the hard-working staff here."

The announcement was made at 2pm today. The industrial paints factory is expected to stay open until the end of the year before the transfer is made.

A member of staff, who had worked at the site for the past 30 years, said staff were shocked at the announcement.

Speaking anonymously, because he said workers had been told not to speak to the press, he said: "I have never seen so many grown men crying.

"Our part of the company is doing well is doing well and to move the factory abroad is not fair on the staff who have made the company such a success."

The Darwen site is split into two parts: manufacturing paints for industry and for domestic decorative use.

The company had been told by the Competition Commission it must sell off its British paint businesses, including Crown in Darwen, for the £8 billion takeover of ICI to go through. The takeover was announced in November last year.

The decision was made because of concerns that owning both Crown and ICI, which manufactures Dulux paint, would give Akzo too much of the UK paint market.

As a result, the industrial section of the business, which counts Corus (Formerly British Steel) among its main clients, will now be moved to Malmo in Sweden.