BBC News Online: UK: England

Matsushita axes 350 jobs

Production will move to the Czech Republic

Staff have been told they will be out of a job at the end of this year.

The company has blamed falling demand for mobile phones.

A research-and-development centre at the site in Thatcham, near Reading, will continue to operate.

The Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union said the work was being switched to the Czech Republic.

"This is the latest in a series of manufacturing jobs that have been lost to the Czech Republic," said the union's general secretary Sir Ken Jackson, on Friday.

"The Czech government is pushing its manufacturing hard on the world stage.

"We need the British government to attach the same importance to British manufacturing."

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The company said a falling demand for mobile phones, across Europe, was to blame for the cuts.

"This has been coupled with unfavourable exchange rates that has led to this regrettable decision," said Mr Yamamoto.

"We have been a key employer in the local community and will make every effort to minimise the impact of this decision."

A Panasonic Europe spokesman said attempts to re-deploy staff at other UK sites the company owns are underway.

"However, it is very likely that most of these jobs will go, because there won't be 350 other vacancies available," he said.

The company employs around 4,000 workers in the UK. The Thatcham factory, which opened in 1988, won a Queen's Award for Export in 1997.