BAE workers stage protest

Hundreds of BAE Systems workers are to stage a protest outside the defence giant's annual meeting this week as part of their campaign to save jobs.

The Unite union said virtually the entire workforce from the factory at Brough, East Yorkshire, will lobby shareholders at the meeting in central London on Wednesday.

The company announced thousands of job cuts last year, including the end of manufacturing at Brough, home of the Hawk aircraft, with the loss of hundreds of posts.

Unite national officer Ian Waddell said: "This has been a long, hard battle for our members and they are not giving up. The Brough workforce is world-class. We are calling on BAE shareholders to help us force the board to act on its corporate and social responsibility to help this brilliant workforce find alternative work and to do everything possible to keep these highly skilled aerospace workers in the industry."

Ian Gent, a Unite rep at BAE in Brough, added: "BAE should set up a foundation fund that will assist sacked employees back into work and support their families in the future.

"The BAE chief executive, Ian King, should donate his £1.44 million bonus to help those workers that his company have condemned to the scrap heap."