Industry - on the jobs front

Troubled US carmaker Chrysler has asked for another $5bn (£3.5bn) from the US government, saying it plans to axe 3,000 jobs and cut three car models.

The moves form part of its restructuring plan submitted to the Treasury Department on Tuesday.

Meanwhile General Motors has said it would try to borrow up to $16.6bn more from the government, on top of the $13.4bn it has already received.

Its plan includes cutting 47,000 jobs and closing five more US factories.

GM says that it could be in profit within two years and fully repay its loans by 2017.

 

Angry agency staff have confronted union officials at BMW's Mini Cowley plant in Oxford, after the carmaker confirmed 850 job cuts at the site.

Casual staff, who had been laid off with immediate effect, threw fruit at leaders of the Unite union, claiming they felt betrayed.

Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, described BMW's treatment of the workers as "disgraceful".

The site will now close for a week, and weekend working has been scrapped.

A BMW spokesperson said weekend workers had effectively been given a week's notice as they would be paid for next weekend as well.

The carmaker also said it had identified 150 surplus workers at its Mini plant in Swindon.

 

Engineering group GKN has confirmed that it is cutting 564 jobs in the UK.

The company said the cuts will be made at its plants in Birmingham, Walsall and Telford, and at its aerospace division sites in Burnley and Luton.

GKN supplies carmakers including Ford. The losses are part of a restructuring package, announced in January.

At the time GKN said it had cut 2,800 jobs globally since October and may have to shed more because of the slump in the global car industry.