FOUR hundred people are to lose their jobs at Motorola in Swindon, the company has announced.

The job cuts will be implemented over the next six months, and the night assembly shift at Groundwell has also been cut with immediate effect.

The latest round of cuts will bring the total workforce at the company's two remaining sites, Groundwell and Euroway in Blagrove, down from 1,337 at present to 937.

It is a far cry from the glory days of the nineties when the workforce fluctuated between 2,500 and 3,000, depending on contract work.

Spokesman Mark Durrant said the proposed figure of 400 was arrived at following consultation talks yesterday between management and staff.

He said: "In light of the current business situation and following talks with the staff yesterday, the figure of 400 job losses have been decided on.

"We have now entered the required 90-day consultation period during which decisions will be made to identify who will be leaving and when.

"All areas of the business will be affected, the 519 people involved in the area of direct labour, such as assembly staff and their support groups, as well as the 818 in management, marketing, sales, administration personnel, finance and in research and development.

"What I would reiterate is that our prime concern is for the welfare of our employers and we will be making every effort to help those who are leaving.

"People are being asked to put their names forward for voluntary severance. We are keen to identify people interested in taking a redundancy package although it must made clear that such proposals will be treated on an individual basis and might not be acceptable to the company."

The latest news follows Motorola's decision to cut its global workforce to 93,000, down from 150,000 18 months ago.

The most recent announcement was that the company was planning to cut another 7,000 jobs world wide, 3,000 of them in the GTS division, of which most of the 2,000 employees at the Europark headquarters in Blagrove and at the Groundwell site belong.

Motorola last night confirmed that Edward D Breen, its president and chief operating officer, had left the company to become chairman and chief executive officer of Bermuda-based Tyco International Ltd.