Marconi spells out more UK job cuts

Union leaders say they have been given further details of job losses at Marconi's UK plants.

About 164 jobs will be cut in Liverpool, 322 in Coventry, 85 from Chelmsford, 20 from Nottingham and 10 from Cambridge, the unions said.

They have been locked in talks with management at the troubled electronics giant, which last week announced 4,000 job cuts worldwide.

Marconi, which has already announced 570 job cuts in Poole, Dorset, is refusing to confirm the latest job cut figures.

Pressure

In a separate development, a group of US investors has started legal action against Marconi chief executive Lord Simpson and other directors, following last week's dramatic collapse in the company's share price.

They say the Marconi directors misled them by giving falsely optimistic predictions about the company's prospects for 2001.

The move will increase pressure on Lord Simpson to follow chief executive-designate John Mayo, who resigned from the company on Friday.

Class action

Two US law firms have filed class action law suits on behalf of Marconi investors.

Berger & Montague of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh-based Alfred G Yates Jr said in separate statements late on Monday that they had filed the suits in the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Mr Yates' complaint charges that Marconi and company officials (Lord) George Simpson, John Mayo and Steve Hare misrepresented that the telecoms equipment firm would meet expectations for 2001.

Specifically, he noted that the officials assured investors that Marconi would achieve growth in the telecom equipment sector and that there was increasing demand by businesses and consumers for communications services.

It also said it was confident its performance in 2002 would improve and that there was demand for European orders of optical networking.

Berger & Montague alleged the company and two directors "falsely assured the investing community that Marconi did not need to change its earning guidance".

Unions

Lord Simpson is also under fire from unions, who have branded Marconi management "incompetent".

Roger Lyons, general secretary of the MSF, called on Lord Simpson to re-think the job cut programme - or face possible industrial action.

"(Marconi's) strategy has been disastrous for the company and its employees and indeed for the country," Mr Lyons said.

"We have got some very good products in Marconi and some of the best-skilled people in the electronics industry and what we have got now is a situation where, after Mr Mayo's resignation, the board has a chance to review its strategy.

"We will be seeking to agree in partnership that review and if we are faced with compulsory redundancies we have a delegate conference later today which will be reviewing the ways in which we defend the jobs of our members. The board has a choice."

Mr Lyons warned of the consequences of Marconi becoming a take-over target, it its share price sank any further.

"A predator would dismember what is left because of the overwhelming concentration on telecoms, which would not be attractive," he said.