Airbus unions seek news of jobs threat

Union leaders are seeking urgent talks with Airbus amid fears that thousands of jobs could be axed.

It's believed the workers may be laid off because of the possible collapse of a huge defence project.

The future of the Airbus A400M transport aircraft is said to be in doubt after the German government raised problems over its pledge to take 73 of the aircraft.

Eight countries, including the UK, committed themselves to the wide-bodied aircraft last year.

But the German finance ministry is reported to have warned that legal budgetary requirements had not been fulfilled, and would not be ready until the end of the month.

Germany has been hit by recession, and the government is having problems raising enough cash to fund the project.

Thousands of workers are employed by the Airbus consortium member BAE Systems.

Ken Jackson, general secretary of the Amicus union, says: "We would be very concerned if these reports were true and thousands of jobs were to be put at risk unnecessarily."

A spokeswoman for Airbus said the consortium remains confident that Germany will confirm its order later this month.