AN aerospace company where workers are due to strike next week has denied transferring work from the North-East to a plant in Cambridge.

About 80 GMB union members at CAV Aerospace, in Consett, County Durham, will take the first of two days of industrial action on Monday.

Although the company, employing 380 people in Derwentside, has made 100 redundancies in the past six months and staff have been on reduced hours, the GMB said its reasons for the action were changes in a shift payment system and, it said, the transfer of work destined for Consett to a facility in Cambridge bought last year.

Last night, CAV chief executive Owen McFarlane said the strike would put at risk short-term tactical work that would have improved the situation for the company and could jeopardise further investment.

He said Cambridge has been part of its supply chain for more than two years and was acquired in December in order to protect the CAV supply chain.

He said: “Cambridge is an older plant than Consett, with limited facilities, so there is no question of it being a replacement for work carried out at Consett, as the GMB suggests.”

He said an offer had been made to the GMB, but it had decided not to ballot its members.

Stephen Thompkins, of the GMB, said it had asked for backdated monies arising from the change to shift payments.

He said: “If the company would pay the back-dated money, of about £150 a head, we were prepared to suspend action, ballot our members and recommend acceptance.

The company refused to consider that offer.”

Mr McFarlane said the company had offered to go to independent arbitration on the dispute over back pay.

He said: “We introduced reduced hours in order to protect jobs until the market recovers, and the change in shift premiums is the result of moving from a seven-day to a five-day working week.”

He said the section of the business in dispute had continued to work a five-day shift pattern, and added: “We have retained our loyal customer base and need to do everything we can to continue that until they themselves are in a position of recovery and orders pick up again.”