TALKS have started between unions and car parts maker Delphi after the firm announced plans for 71 redundancies at its Kirkby plant.

Almost a quarter of the Knowsley Industrial Park workforce are at risk of losing their jobs as a result of falling orders at the firm, which makes electronic components for car manufacturers such as Jaguar, Vauxhall and Peugeot.

The firm announced a 30-day consultation and a spokesman said: “Delphi’s Liverpool plant is undertaking a 30-day consultation period with unions and employee representatives regarding the planned termination of 71 positions due to reductions in orders for parts manufactured at the plant as our customers respond to very challenging global economic conditions in the automotive industry.

“The move was proposed to unions after a six-month period during which Delphi provided significant salary support to minimise the financial hardship to employees due to short-time working, and attempted to reduce its workforce at the site through a voluntary separation package.”

Unite the Union called on the Government to speed up its assistance for the auto industry in a bid to help stave off the proposed redundancies. Phil Allman, Unite regional officer, said: “Workers are frustrated and upset. For the past eight months, they have had lay-offs in a bid to save costs.

“We asked the Government for support in January to save these jobs, yet not a penny has reached Delphi or any UK auto firm through this difficult period.

“In Germany, they get 75% cash support, which is why they are able to save their skills. The needless dragging of heels by our Government means we’ve almost doubled the jobs lost in Merseyside.”

He added: “Seventy-one job cuts will have a devastating economic effect on families and the community in this already hard- hit area.

“Unless there is urgent support from the Government, we will see thousands more UK skilled jobs thrown on the scrapheap. We urge the Government to get involved and safeguard the future of the plant and its workforce.”

The union is campaigning for a temporary short-time working subsidy scheme to help preserve skilled manufacturing jobs through the recession.

It says a similar scheme in the early 1980s helped save hundreds of thousands of economically vital jobs.