Rolls-Royce Workers Strike One Day

LONDON (AP) â€” Workers at a Rolls-Royce engineering plant staged their first strike in 20 years Friday, a 24-hour walkout over job losses. <br><br>Some 300 workers picketed outside the gates of the factory

Friday, February 9th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LONDON (AP) â€” Workers at a Rolls-Royce engineering plant staged their first strike in 20 years Friday, a 24-hour walkout over job losses.

Some 300 workers picketed outside the gates of the factory at Ansty, central England, which employs 2,400 people. Another 300 stayed away from work, said the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union.

The union said 600 workers had received dismissal notices since Rolls-Royce decided to move jobs to factories in Montreal, Canada and Bristol, southwestern England.

``Rolls-Royce has pushed its staff into taking this action,'' said the union's general secretary, Roger Lyons.

Rolls-Royce called for talks and said compulsory dismissals could be avoided.