WORKERS AT bed maker Relyon, Wellington's biggest employer, have been put on short time working in a bid to protect jobs.

The company has blamed a faltering economy for a sharp downturn in orders for its prestige range of beds.

In a statement released to the WWN on Monday, managing director Chris Tattersall said he hoped the meaure brought in at its Station Mills factory would be temporary, but could give no indication when full-time working would be resumed.

He said: "Relyon has reluctantly decided to implement short time working in some areas of production on our Wellington site as a way of protecting the longer term job security of its workforce.

See today's Wellington Weekly News for more on this story.