The workforce at GKN Aerospace Services at East Cowes, Isle of Wight has been dealt another body blow with the announcement that 134 more jobs are to go.

There will be 99 new redundancies and 35 held back from the shedding of 650 jobs by the company earlier this year. The new job cuts will be effective from the end of June.

The fresh cutbacks mean the workforce has been cut from around 1,500 to 750 in just six months. Union spokesman Brian Gearing said many at GKN were "devastated" by the new job losses. "It is a situation of despair really at the moment. I just hope this will be the last batch."

He said the 134 jobs going comprised 99 new redundancies, and 35 held back from the original 650 announced late last year. The other 615 of the 650 had left by the end of March.

Mr Gearing said of the 99 new job losses identified, 48 would be fitters, 20 composite workers, one storeman, 10 supervisors, six clerical, and 14 managerial and technical.

"We probably won't know until the middle of next week exactly who individually will be going."

In a statement, general manager at East Cowes, Mike Beck, said: "Regrettably, despite our best endeavours, we have not been able to secure sufficient work to fill our capacity for either this year or next year."

The company has blamed factors including the lack of expected transfer of work from GKN at Yeovil and the cancellation of the Dornier Doors order book for 2002.

He said volunteers would be sought in the first instance for the new redundancies.

Responding to the news, Island council leader Shirley Smart, said: "This is yet more bad news for the employees of GKN and we are especially concerned about the impact of these further job cuts on the families concerned. The council will be urgently seeking reassurances that there are no further cuts in the pipeline."

The 650 redundancies announced just before Christmas last year had included key departments for the manufacture of aircraft engine casings.

The job-shedding was one of the largest ever seen on the Island and was blamed mainly on the downturn in the civil aerospace market, worsened by the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11. Those redundancies have led to the closure of much of the north site at East Cowes, including the loss of the Columbine works, machine shop and Maresfield Road site.

The closures left the southern Falcon Yard and the Osborne Works on the outskirts of the town, as the main GKN presence in the town.

At the end of October last year, GKN globally announced that it was to shed 1,250 of its 38,000 workforce, as a direct result of the economic effects of the terrorist atrocities. East Cowes has borne the brunt of that. In the past few years there have been several waves of job losses at GKN at East Cowes, but none have been as extensive as the current wave.