Union urges government to block BAE stake sale

One of Britain's largest unions called on the government yesterday to block defence firm BAE Systems Plc's proposed sale of its stake in plane maker Airbus to Franco-German-Spanish firm EADS.

"The government should step in and block this sale," John Wilson, a representative for the GMB union said in a news release. "There should be no dallying about this."

BAE confirmed yesterday it was in talks to exercise a "put" option to sell its 20 per cent stake in Airbus to EADS, which owns the remaining 80 per cent.

Airbus employs some 13,000 people in Britain and another 135,000 or so do work that supplies or relates to the company.

Britain's union umbrella organisation, The Trades Union Congress (TUC), also expressed concern about the possible deal.

"We seek clarification of the reasons behind this decision," said TUC director-general Brendan Barber. "For BAE to sell their stake at this stage smacks of the short-termism that cripples UK industry."

BAE said none of the jobs were at risk, noting its stake was a financial one and that the UK plants in question already belong to Airbus.

"We welcome the statement that none of the 13,000 jobs are at risk and look forward to that promise being kept," the TUC's Mr Barber said.

For its part, the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) said it was confident there would be no job losses.

"Our local representatives have reported it is business as usual'," said Andy Richards, regional secretary for the TGWU.

Union irritation over the potential sale comes at a tough time for relations between Britain's Labour government, now in a third term in office, and its traditional union base.

Last month as many as 1.5 million local government workers walked off the job in a dispute over pensions, closing thousands of schools and disrupting travel.