HUNDREDS of jobs in a Scottish economic blackspot have been reprieved until next year, a union has claimed, after talks over the future of an engineering firm.

Around 520 workers at Mahle Engineering Systems in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, had threatened to go on strike amid claims the owners wanted to relocate manufacturing of components for the car industry to Italy and Slovakia.

Unite had claimed that it would have meant closing half the factory with the loss of 260 jobs.

The union said the German firm, which has also made parts for Formula One engines, has now given workers a year to turn around the plant before any further decisions are taken on its future.

Unite officer Jim Winter said new proposals discussed at a meeting last night will be put to members.

He suggested they are not just getting a reprieve, but investment would be finalised in new machinery.

Mr Winter told the Herald: "It's a one-year stay of execution. What I have to do is speak to our members tomorrow after the full proposals are provided.

"But it is an opportunity to turn the plant around. To me that's very good news for Kilmarnock."

The claims had raised serious questions over the plant's medium to long-term future.

However, despite the union's upbeat message following the meeting, Mahle is still looking to make about 60 of the workers redundant, and Mr Winter is hoping for volunteers.

Last October the company announced it would have to cut 61 jobs after it lost a contract with Ford worth an estimated £4 million a year.

Ford flew in senior executives to avert the strike action.

The union had previously claimed that despite repeated attempts to secure their future over the last year, "workers have been consistently stonewalled in their efforts to present alternative proposals to Senior Director Matthias Langbein who has refused to provide any rationale over the offshoring".

Before the meeting, Mr Winter had said Mahle had treated its workers with 'arrogance and comtempt'."

In a turnout of more than 80%, 85% had voted for favour of industrial action.

The union had said that the company was ignoring the Kilmarnock site's return to profitability.

The move comes just weeks ahead of the final closure of the Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock.

Unemployment statistics across Ayrshire are among the highest in the UK.

There was a national storm of protest when drinks giant Diageo announced in 2009 that it was planning to close the Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock, severing a 190-year asssociation with the town, with the loss of 700 jobs.

Since then, 198 of those employed at the plant have been given new roles within Diageo. Another 423 have taken redundancy packages offered by the company.

When it shuts its doors at the end of this month, 86 employees will have been forced into compulsory redundancy out of what was a 707-strong workforce.

The outrage over Diageo's decision to pull the Johnnie Walker site made headlines internationally and images of 20,000 people taking to the streets of Kilmarnock in protest went worldwide.