DEJECTED workers at the Fifoots Point power station - known locally as Uskmouth - in Newport fear they may not get paid at the end of the month after being given redundancy notices.

As revealed in later editions of yesterday's Argus, the entire 100-strong workforce excluding management - have been given one month's notice of redundancy in a letter signed by plant manager Vic Danks.

The brief letter ,addressed to each worker individually, states they will be made redundant on April 18.

The news has caught politicians and Newport council on the hop. The council's economic department has declined to comment on the actions being taken by the company ahead of any public announcement by AES, which bought the power station in 1997.

Despite repeated attempts by the Argus to contact management at AES no-one was available to comment.

As workers left the plant yesterday afternoon after collecting their redundancy notices few wanted to speak about was happening.

One said the atmosphere in the plant was "terrible". He said: "People are just hanging about waiting for a word from management but management are not saying anything. When we ask they say they don't know anything".

Other workers told the Argus that nothing was being done in the plant . "Everything has been stopped. We are just sitting around," they said.

In addition to the stress of losing their jobs some workers fear they will not get paid as the company called in the receivers. John Thompson, 45, of Thompson Avenue, Lliswerry, has worked at the plant for just a year after moving from the nearby Corus steel making plant.

He said: "We don't know a lot. We are worried we won't get paid". John Griffiths, National Assembly for Wales member for Newport East said it was news he hadn't expected.

He said: "I had no idea this was in the offing. The Assembly has an on-going energy review looking at all issues of having a diverse energy supply in the UK and in this regard to how we can have renewable energy sources. This certainly is a development the energy review will want to be aware of and to consider the implications".