Ford management to meet UK unions amid plant closure reports

Ford Motor Co management will meet British unions on Thursday in Essex, east of London, amid media reports that it is planning to close its factory in Southampton, southern England.

A Ford spokesman declined to comment on the reports the carmaker would close the Southampton factory where it makes its Transit van and employs around 500 people.

The news comes on the same day that the firm announced it would close a factory employing 4,300 workers in the Belgian town of Genk by the end of 2014, shifting production to Valencia, Spain, as the U.S. automaker tries to stem European losses.

(Reporting by Rhys Jones; editing by Neil Maidment)