Hundreds of West Midlands jobs under threat at City Link delivery firm

They are among more than 2,000 workers unions say will be made redundant at 57 depots across the country.

The RMT held crunch talks with administrators Ernst and Young on Saturday in a bid to hammer out a deal to prevent the redundancies.

But after being locked in discussions all day, union bosses said they were no closer to a deal.

Staff were being told of their fate in meetings today.

The workers affected include 40 at the Stone depot in Stone Business Park, Opal Way; 56 at the Wednesbury depot in Leabrook Road North and 70 in Jameson Road, Birmingham.

There are 404 jobs at risk at the firm's Coventry headquarters, and another 38 in Shrewsbury.

An Ernst and Young spokesman said: "The administrators are currently assessing the company and the status of existing orders. This process will have a bearing on the number of employees retained and those that unfortunately face redundancy in the next few days.

"It is anticipated that there will be substantial redundancies over the coming days, at which point the administrators will provide a further update."

A small number of staff will be retained for up to three months to help the business wind down.

City Link announced on Christmas Day that it is going into administration after years of 'substantial losses', sparking an angry reaction from workers and customers.

Officials met in Leeds to discuss the fate of the firm's 2,727 staff, and union bosses vowed to stay in talks for as long as it takes to salvage jobs.

Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said: "It is crystal clear from our meeting that there has been a truly horrific catalogue of mismanagement at City Link and that staff and their union have been starved of basic information."

The union has urged Business Secretary Vince Cable and the Government to step in immediately to help broker a rescue package to salvage the jobs.

Mr Cash added: "We want to put a plan together for a Government-backed rescue that protects the business and the jobs it supports. If the Government can nationalise the bankers then they can nationalise City Link, which is clearly in the public interest."