Almost 450 jobs are at risk at two sites in Lancashire – Samlesbury and Warton – with more than 200 threatened at BAE's plant in Brough, Yorkshire. Jobs are also going at Farnborough and at Chadderton, Oldham, where the Lancaster bomber was build.
BAE said that it had started consulting with workers about 740 job cuts across the five plants. Union leaders, though, warned that another 206 jobs are also being lost across BAE's integrated system technologies division, called Insyte.
In July, BAE warned that it faced a "challenging trading environment" as governments around the world look to cut spending and demand efficiency savings. The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU) said today, though, that it was a mistake to start laying off staff before the UK government has published its strategic review of defence and security, due this autumn.
"With the forthcoming defence review these cuts may be the tip of the iceberg but knee jerk reactions from employers could make things even worse. Cuts are being demanded before the shape of the defence industry has been decided. The defence industry will suffer more than necessary, if employers make poor judgement calls," said CSEU general secretary, Hugh Scullion.
Scullion vowed to resist any compulsory redundancies, and warned that unions would "negotiate nationally" with BAE if workers at individual plants could not mitigate the planned losses themselves.
Skills in the defence industry could be transferred to other areas of manufacturing, Scullion added, saying: "The government is risking destroying the UK's manufacturing base with ideologically driven cuts."
BAE has cut thousands of jobs over the last two years, including 230 at its submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, 500 at its Land Systems division, and hundreds more at various sites including Guildford, Leeds, Telford, Newcastle, and Leicester.
BAE's planned cuts
212 jobs at Brough, Yorkshire
298 jobs at Warton, Lancashire
149 jobs at Samlesbury, Lancashire
55 jobs at Farnborough, Hampshire
26 jobs at Chadderton, Greater Manchester
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