Toly Products, a leading cosmetics packaging manufacturer, laid off 84 employees, from a workforce of 400, due to the global economic crisis. The redundancies would have affected 20 per cent more staff had the General Workers' Union not intervened. The union said employees from all levels of the company, including management, had lost their job.

The redundancies come in the wake of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions' announcement last week that it would be operating on a four-day working week due to the downturn in the global automotive industry.

The GWU has warned that "three or four" other companies may have to sack workers or reduce working hours if the government insists on increasing their burden through the higher utility tariffs.

Toly Products operates in the global cosmetics industry and, according to its CEO, Andy Gatesy, the economic crisis is affecting the whole industry, not just his company.

"We have not lost any customers; there is just a lot of uncertainty in the market and this is affecting business levels," he said.

Toly Products is working closely with the union to minimise the impact the redundancy measures would have on its workforce and urged the government to continue supporting locally-based manufacturers to weather the storm.

The union has already explained the situation to the workers and, together with the management, it is making arrangements for ETC officials to visit the Bulebel factory in the coming days to help the employees find alternative jobs.

Toly Products reported a strong performance last year and its local operations had grown by 15 per cent over the previous year.

It had even made two investments: a new manufacturing unit dedicated to Chanel products costing €500,000, and a development unit relocated from the UK, due to the flexibility and skills of the Maltese workforce.

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