Siemens has denied claims from Unite union that they have made attempts to hire Bombardier staff.

Last week, Bombardier announced plans to axe 1,429 jobs at its Derby factory after losing out on the Thameslink rolling stock contract to Siemens. Subsequently, Unite union officials revealed to The Sun newspaper that Siemens had contacted Bombardier officials in a bid to recruit procurement and sales professionals.

A spokesperson from Siemens told Recruiter “this is a ‘rumour’ which has been put around”. They added: “It is far too premature for us to hire people to fulfil the Thameslink contract — we have been named preferred bidder by TfL at this stage and have not yet won the contract.”

For more on this story, see this week’s issue of Recruiter on Wednesday (13 July).