BOSSES at SmithKline Beecham have been accused of arrogance for leaving their employees in the dark about job cuts.

Workers at the company's plants in Worthing and Crawley have been left wondering about their future since the pharmaceutical giant announced a multi-billion pound merger with Glaxo Wellcome yesterday.

The two companies say redundancies are inevitable but have refused to give details. David Fleming, of the Manufacturing Science and Finance Union, urged management to put employees' minds at rest.

He said: "If they can work out the merger will save them £1 billion they must know how that will be achieved. It's arrogant not to communicate this to the workforce."

He added: "Our greatest fear is that the merger will mean most future development and research will be done in America, which is bad news for all the British sites."

The union is planning to set up a telephone helpline for anyone worried about their jobs which will be open to all employees even if they are not members.

The Worthing plant in Clarendon Road is one of only two sites in Europe specialising in the manufacture of sterile antibiotics.

The Crawley centre based at the Manor Royal industrial estate produces general medicines.

Between them the two sites employ around 4,000 staff.

A spokesman for SmithKline Beecham said redundancies were inevitable but could not be more specific about the numbers involved or how particular locations would be affected.

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