UNION officials and Sanyo management were locked in talks last night over the future of more than 300 threatened North-East jobs.
Sanyo announced last week that its plants at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, and Thornaby, Teesside, were facing the axe, subject to a consultation process.
Talks have begun in an effort to save the plants and the jobs of the 315 employees who work there.
Sanyo says that it is no longer commercially viable to keep open the Newton Aycliffe operation, which makes microwave ovens, and its sister plant at Thornaby, where magnetron components are manufactured.
A 90-day consultation process on the future of the sites has begun involving workers, officials from the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) and Sanyo management.
Bob Cooney, of the AEEU, said yesterday: "We are in a delicate state of negotiations at the moment, but so far our discussions have been very fruitful.
"Our aim is to salvage what we can from this, and if we cannot do that then we need to get the very best deal we can for our members."
Sanyo has been hit hard by cheap imports from China and South Korea, and had been carrying out a global review of its operation.
It employs a total of 284 staff at Newton Aycliffe, and 31 on Teesside.
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