BAE staff to protest at threat of job losses

STAFF FROM BAE Systems from across the country were today travelling to London to protest at the Houses of Parliament over threats to their jobs.

The defence workers will lobby MPs and demand that the government takes back control of Britain’s defence capability and spends the UK’s defence budget to support jobs in Britain rather than in factories overseas.

It follows news that the Government has come under attack over its defence policy after the “devastating” news that BAE Systems is planning to cut almost 2,000 jobs in its military, maritime and intelligence services.

The defence giant said the aim is to streamline its business and have a “sharper” competitive edge.

The biggest cutback will be in the military air business, with 1,400 jobs set to be axed on five sites, including Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire, where the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft assembly takes place. Jobs will also be cut at Brough in East Yorkshire and at RAF bases in Marham, Norfolk, and Leeming in North Yorkshire.

Unite union’s Steve Turner said: “In the last decade over 50,000 UK defence manufacturing jobs have gone while more and more of the UK’s defence spend is going to factories and supporting workers in countries like the US.”

He said it was “also harming communities that rely on defence jobs and taking money out of the British economy”.