Telecomms group to shed hundreds more jobs

UK manufacturing suffered another blow last month when troubled telecoms group Marconi said it will cut up to 1,000 more jobs in addition to the 7,000 already lost over the past two years.

Marconi spokesman David Beck said the process was at the start of the 90-day consultation period with employees and unions. He added that the telecoms group is hoping to secure the job cuts through voluntary redundancies, although compulsory lay-offs cannot be ruled out. The cuts are expected to hit plants in Liverpool and Coventry.

Danny Carrigan, national officer for manufacturing at Amicus-AEEU, the main trade union at Marconi, said he was disappointed that market conditions had not improved, but that the union would work with the group to ensure it was "not taken over the precipice".

He said: "We have said we want to try to avoid compulsory redundancies but we want to work with the company to try to get it through this crisis. It's still a major manufacturer in the British telecommunications industry."

* Even the relatively buoyant service sector has not been immune to bad news on jobs. Royal and Sun Alliance is to make 1,200 - or 5% - of its UK workforce redundant. Bristol is to bear the brunt of the job losses, losing 520 jobs. Liverpool and Horsham will lose 250 and 200 jobs respectively, and a further 230 jobs will go from the company's sales force across the UK.