BAE Systems has called for voluntary redundancies in a bid to shed 200 jobs following a 'decline' in its workload, the firm announced this morning.

The news came shortly after aerospace giant Rolls-Royce announced plans to axe 2,000 jobs worldwide, while Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca said it was cutting 1,400 jobs and shutting three European plants.

The BAE job losses will affect factories in Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Barrow and Telford. A voluntary redundancy programme is being launched immediately.

The firm blamed the cuts on a decline in workload on the Ministry of Defence's Armoured Fighting Vehicle programmes.

David Allott, managing director of BAE Systems Land Systems, said: "We recognise the impact these job losses will have on our employees and the communities in which we operate and we always aim to mitigate as much as possible the impact of losses by offering voluntary redundancy where we can, as well as re-skilling and re-training people for alternative roles.

"We have been able to postpone this decision due to high workload on meeting urgent operational requirements, but that activity is now tailing off."

Rolls-Royce 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.

The group, which employs 39,000 workers globally, 60 per cent 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.

"Rolls-Royce has been reviewing the possible impact of current economic uncertainties, delays on individual programmes, such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787, and the benefits of the group's continuing focus on efficiency," the company said.

Unite national officer Bernie Hamilton said the announcement was "bitterly disappointing".

He added: "Rolls-Royce must take a measured approach to this temporary downturn in the airline industry. In the past the company has cut too many jobs and Rolls-Royce struggled to meet the upturn in the market.
"If there are to be redundancies in the UK, they must be voluntary. Unite will not accept any compulsory redundancies."

AstraZeneca said 250 jobs will be hit in Macclesfield and Sweden as part of its programme of savings, while the factory closures will be in Spain, Belgium and Sweden, with the jobs going by 2013.

"These moves are a continuation of AstraZeneca's programme to improve the organisation's productivity and efficiency," said executive vice-president David Smith.

"I realise these changes are difficult for our affected employees, with whom we will be consulting in the coming months. We believe these changes are necessary for the long-term strength of the business."