Fifty-four Brough BAE Systems jobs to be saved

BAE Systems has announced a small reduction in the 899 redundancies proposed at its factory in East Yorkshire.

The defence giant said 54 technical and engineering jobs would be saved.

Union Convenor Ian Gent welcomed the news but said there were many "hundreds of workers" whose jobs were still under threat.

BAE Systems announced plans in September to cut posts at its Brough site to maintain its competitiveness.

Consultations are ongoing over plans to axe 845 posts at Brough together with almost 1,400 at its sites in Warton and Samlesbury, Lancashire.

'Additional work'

The 90-day consultation had been due to end on 26 December but was extended for talks between BAE and union officials to continue.

In a statement, BAE Systems said: "The company is pleased to confirm that 54 jobs have been successfully mitigated in the engineering function at Brough. This mitigation is as a result of additional work that has arisen since the announcement in September 2011.

"Working with the trade unions and employee representatives we will continue to consider ways of avoiding potential job losses and pursue all opportunities for mitigation."

Ian Gent, of Unite, said: "We welcome the mitigations are there... but it does nothing for the manufacturing people based on the shop floor. It's a small number in comparison to the 800-plus jobs that still need to be saved.

"It's a bit of good news but the real key is changing the original decision to cease manufacturing. That's what we've got to work on."