HUNDREDS of JCB workers are to return to full-time working – but union bosses fear the move will put more jobs at risk.

JCB Heavy Products, in Beamhurst, Uttoxeter, was one of three of the digger maker's Staffordshire factories to remain on a shorter working week in May.

But now the 350 staff at the site, just off the A50, have voted to join their colleagues at other plants in returning to a 39-hour week by a 71 per cent majority.

They will resume their normal working pattern after the three-week summer shut down which started last Friday.

And it is now feared the full-time hours – which equates to around an extra £35 a week for most workers – will put an as yet unknown number of jobs at risk of redundancy.

GMB Union convener Gordon Richardson, pictured, told the Post & Times: "We can only assume that the result of this vote will be job losses. I am not aware of the numbers involved.

"It is always disappointing to hear our members could be out of work and we will be doing all we can to keep any compulsory job cuts to a minimum."

Despite the overwhelming majority voting to return to full-time working, the decision has not been universally welcomed.

One Heavy Products worker, who asked not to be named, said: "I feel very let down by the people I share the shop floor with."

A JCB spokesman confirmed: "GMB Union members at JCB Heavy Products have voted to return to a 39 hour week and they will resume this working pattern on Wednesday, August 12."

Chief executive Matthew Taylor admitted the market place remained challenging.

He said: "We continue to see little evidence of any significant upturn but, at the same time, it does not seem to be getting any worse at the moment."

Conservative county councillor Geoff Morrison, mayor of East Staffordshire, believes the recession is far from over.

He said: "Unfortunately we are getting more and more accustomed to hearing bad news coming out of JCB.

"I don't expect this credit crunch will be going away for at least another couple of years.

"It is very depressing for the workers involved who don't know whether they will have a job to come back to after the break and the spin off effects on the town are devastating."

JCB has axed around 1,600 jobs in the past 12 months following a slump in demand. It now employs around 4,000 people in Staffordshire.

Workers voted in October to accept short-time working to save colleagues' jobs, but that agreement ended in May.