Rolls-Royce says consulting with unions over job cuts

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Rolls-Royce in consultation with trade unions over job cuts in its defence workforce at its plant in Ansty, near Coventry in the England's midlands region, where it employs 800 people, the company said on Tuesday.

"We are in consultation with trade unions over reductions in our defence workforce at Ansty. We hope to achieve this without compulsory redundancies. Ansty also conducts Civil Aerospace business which is not affected," a spokeswoman for the company said.

British trade union Unite said on its website on the same day that Rolls Royce was cutting 378 jobs at its UK defence operations, with the bulk of the losses coming from the Ansty plant, and blamed government spending cuts to defence for the job losses.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh, Editing by Tim Castle)