ENGINEERING jobs in Wyre Forest could be lost to India if a manufacturing firm is taken over by a major Asian group, warn union leaders.

Workers at United Engineering Forgings, which has plants in Kidderminster and Bewdley, say they are being kept in the dark about buy-out talks between the firm's major shareholders and the Bharat group.

PPN Ventures, the leading shareholder in UEF and part of the Prudential group, is considering selling its shares in the firm to the Bharat group, a "major forging group" in India.

But David Lock, Labour candidate for Wyre Forest, said PPN had "forbidden" UEF management from talking to himself, when he was the constituency MP, or the union, about the possible sale.

And he condemned it as "industrial relations from the worst part of the 19th century."

Patrick Connolly, chairman of shop stewards at the Kidderminster plant, said in law, if a company was being sold, employers were obliged to consult with unions.

But he said PPN claimed it was only considering a transfer of shares which meant no obligation to talk to unions.

Mr Connolly said there was no grievance with either UEF group management or management of the Kidderminster plant who had agreed not to proceed with the possible 44 redundancies originally put forward in the event of the sale of shares to Bharat going ahead.

He said: "We have a very good relationship with management but they're being stopped from saying anything by Prudential which leaves everyone not knowing what's happening."

And he claimed management was itself now being kept in the dark about the future of the company.

He added: "In this situation there's bound to be speculation that Bharat is buying us for the work and will export it to their country."