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Hundreds of jobs axed at UK firms
20.11.08
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Hundreds more job losses have been announced at some of the UK's leading firms in the wake of the economic downturn.
Almost 600 cuts were announced, some as part of wider global job losses.
Rolls-Royce said it would axe up to 2,000 jobs worldwide, including 140 in the UK, after reviewing the impact of the current economic "uncertainties".
The aerospace giant said it had started consulting unions about the proposed job losses at its assembly and test facility in Derby, part of the group's civil aerospace business.
Rolls-Royce, which employs 39,000 workers globally, 60% of whom are based in the UK, said the announcement was the first stage in a more general programme aimed at matching the group's capacity more closely with the expected load in its facilities.
Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca plans to cut 1,400 jobs and is closing three plants in Europe as part of a programme to improve efficiency.
Around 250 jobs will be affected in Macclesfield and Sweden, while the factory closures will be in Spain, Belgium and Sweden, with the jobs going by 2013.
Meanwhile, BAE Systems announced the loss of up to 200 jobs in its land systems business in the UK, hitting several sites.
The job losses will affect factories in Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Barrow and Telford, said the company, adding that a voluntary redundancy programme was being launched immediately.
The firm blamed the cuts on a decline in workload on the UK Ministry of Defence's Armoured Fighting Vehicle programmes.
