Jobs are to go from Coventry’s Marconi plant after the company decided to transfer its manufacturing to other firms.

Union leaders say they are concerned by plans to transfer staff when the production of parts is switched next year.

The move has been made by bosses to try and give it greater flexibility in the world market and react to customer demands quicker.

Up to 2,900 employees will be transferred as part of the change, including workers from the Coventry site at New Century Park in Binley.

Chief Executive Mike Parton said that no compulsory redundancies were expected and existing employment rights are to be protected as part of the transfer of staff.

He said:

“We believe that outsourcing offers considerable potential for our transferring employees to benefit from becoming part of a business focused specifically on growing its manufacturing operations.

“We are speaking with our employees and unions well in advance to make sure any disruption for our people is kept to an absolute minimum.

“We will take care that this process will be controlled to ensure the transition to this new manufacturing model is made as smoothly as possible.”

Marconi is to establish several assembly configuration centres in the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland and Germany.

These are expected to combine with the outsourced manufacturers to make a perfect model for each product.