By Anthony O. Goriainoff 



  Unite the Union, a British and Irish trade union, said Friday that Bentley's announcement of 1,000 job cuts at its Crewe factory in England was "another heavy blow" for the U.K.'s auto industry. 


  The union said the luxury carmaker, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, has proposed redundancies accounting for just under 25% of the workforce, which will be on a voluntary basis. It described them as another reminder of the battering the sector is taking, caught in a downturn in global demand supercharged by the coronavirus pandemic. 


  "It is absolutely essential that the government works with the automotive industry and Unite to bring forward the sort of sector specific support we are seeing other governments deliver, in France and Germany, because for every automotive job that goes, four more will go in the wider supply chain," Unite's national officer for the automotive sector Steve Bush said. 


  The news comes one day after British sports-car maker Aston Martin Lagonda said it plans to reduce employee numbers by up to 500 as part of a restructuring, as it seeks to cut costs to restore profitability. 


  Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com