The page is maybe a bit more recent than what we are used to but it still gives an interesting insight into Lurgan’s history.

There was a further jobs blow at the former Hyster plant in Craigavon this week with the announcement of up to 75 redundancies in August 1996..

The job losses followed a number of redundancies at the NACCO Materials Handling Group plant which were announced in May.

Management were blaming what they described as ‘a prolonged softening of economic conditions’ in the market for the latest round of job losses.

Short time working was also to be introduced on the manufacturing schedule.

In April the company had announced a £10 million investment which was set to create 180 new jobs with the opening of a new cylinder plant at the Craigavon site.

Some of May’s job losses had been offset by existing workers taking jobs at that new plant. But all those posts have now been filled and management have been consulting with the workforce on the latest round of redundancies.

As is usual in such cases they were seeking volunteers for redundancy and early retirement.

But, it is understood, a points system is also to be implemented to see who stayed and who went, according to employees the points system took into account timekeeping, sick time and other factors.

A company spokesman confirmed a points system was under discussion but it had not been ratified as yet.

The latest round of lay-offs were to take the workforce from 870 to 795.

The short time working was to see the loss of eight working days in the next three months.

NACCO Materials Handling Group has its headquarters in Portland, Oregon and is a world leader in the production of materials handling products - such as the forklift trucks built in Craigavon.