UNION leaders at Rolls-Royce in Derby have told of their anger at a decision by the company to cut up to 240 shop floor workers at its city factory.

Yesterday, the Unite union said that the aero engine maker was going to cut more jobs at its civil aerospace division, following a previous announcement in November when it said it was shedding 140 positions from its engine assembly and test facility at Derby.

Back then, Rolls-Royce revealed it was looking to cut 2,000 people from its global workforce of 39,000, blaming "economic uncertainties". At the time, the firm did not specify whether there would be any more redundancies made at Derby beyond the initial 140 that were announced. However, union leaders said they were worried that Derby would be in the firing line for more cuts.

Their worst fears were realised this week when Rolls-Royce management informed them that further job losses would take place at Derby.

The news comes in the same week that Burnaston car maker Toyota confirmed it was considering reducing its working week, or temporarily laying off some its 3,900 employees, because of a fall in sales.

Unite also claimed this week that up to 100 city jobs may go at IT firm Hewlett Packard/European Data Systems, which has offices in Raynesway, Pride Park and Moor Lane.

According to Steve Wright, Rolls-Royce works convenor for Unite at the Sinfin factory, out of the 2,000 job cuts, so far 430 were being made at Rolls-Royce's UK factories.

But he said that Derby, which employs 12,500 staff at Sinfin and Raynesway, was suffering the bulk of the cuts.

Combined with the figure from November, the latest cut means Derby will be losing 380 jobs, and it comes at a time when Rolls-Royce has a record order book of £42bn.

Mr Wright feels the city is unfairly taking the brunt of the cuts, which will affect staff working in the firm's turbines business and its parts factory, known as rotatives, both at the Sinfin site.

He said: "We are angry that Rolls-Royce is looking to offload staff at Derby when to my knowledge it is not making any job cuts at its other factories which do the same kind of work, such as its factory in Germany.

"In the good times, the company actually transfers work from Derby to factories overseas to keep them busy.

"Times are tough now, but the firm still keeps transferring work abroad. We believe that the company should change its policy and support the Derby factory.

"This is a time when the company should be supporting UK manufacturing. We are unhappy about this and I think the UK government will also be disappointed."

Mr Wright said he was also worried that the cuts could damage the Derby site's long-term prospects.

He said: "The company is looking to build new factories abroad, including one in Virginia in America.

"My concern is that when the upturn comes, the work won't come Derby's way because it won't have the staff."

According to Mr Wright, the bulk of the cuts will take place at the firm's turbines business, which he said will lose 149 people. He said rotatives was set to shed 69 staff.

It is thought that some jobs will also go at the firm's Hucknall site in Nottinghamshire.

Rolls-Royce has not confirmed these figures or responded to Unite's claims.

A spokesman for the company said: "We are discussing proposed job reductions with employee representatives.

"These are included in the anticipated global reductions of between 1,500 and 2,000 that the company announced in November. We will aim to achieve as many of these reductions as possible by voluntary severance and natural attrition during the year."

However, Mr Wright said he was doubtful that many staff would be willing to take voluntary redundancy because of the current economic climate.

When Rolls-Royce announced the initial round of Derby job cuts in November, Mick Lomax, Unite's joint chief negotiator at the firm, expressed concerns that more could go at Sinfin.

He said yesterday: "Sadly, that has now become a reality. I sincerely hope that this is it now for Derby and that there will be no more jobs lost here.

"But with things going the way they are, you just don't know. Fewer engines are being sold and fewer are coming in to be repaired and overhauled."

Yesterday, workers at the site told of their fears over the latest announcement.

One member of the engineering staff, who did not want to be named, said: "We had an idea about this for a while but the number is surprisingly high. We were told today in an e-mail. It's a real shame that a prestigious name like Rolls-Royce has to cut jobs."

Another worker in the after-market department said: "It's terrible to hear about the losses – 240 jobs might be a small proportion of the workforce but they are 240 workers with lives and families."

Mick Kirk, 58, from Arran Close, Sinfin, who works as a pipe fitter with contractor Mitie, who are doing work at Rolls-Royce, said: "Our workforce has been cut recently. I sympathise with these workers and feel really bad for them. I'm worried about my job because it seems no job is safe now."