A trade union representing workers in Germany's largest engineering group, Siemens, has said it is very concerned about a plan by the company to sell off whole areas of its business.

The plan, which was unveiled yesterday, is to sell businesses worth more than ten-thousand-million-dollars employing around sixty-thousand people.

They include the group's loss-making semi-conductors division and its copper communications cable business.

It follows disquiet among investors' at falling profits and share price.

Siemens employs more than four-hundred-thousand people worldwide.

The jobs affected by the sell-off plans are in Germany, Austria, Malaysia, Singapore, France and Portugal.