Unions seek talks with Marconi

Unions have voiced grave concern following the announcement by communications multinational Marconi that it is outsourcing the final assembly of some of its products, affecting up to 1,200 staff at plants in Coventry and Liverpool. Overall the group aims to cut 2,900 jobs from its 49,000 workforce hitting plants in the UK, the US, Italy and Germany.

Marconi, formerly part of GEC, said there would be no compulsory redundancies and that employees would transfer to its outsourcing partners.

Roger Lyons, general secretary of the MSF manufacturing, science and finance union, said: "We want urgent talks with Marconi about this outsourcing. We fear this could just be the first wave by Marconi of a general retreat from British manufacturing. Who is to say that the companies that take over these plants will not in future transfer jobs to lower-cost far east countries?"

And Danny Carrigan, national officer of the electrical and engineering union AEEU, said: "This will cause unnecessary worry for our members at Marconi and we have demanded an early meeting with the company to discuss the decision."

Key facts

Financial year ending March 2000

Sales: £5,724 million

Pre-tax profit: £654 million

Average number of employees: 49,000