Earlier this week De La Rue announced it would “exceed and accelerate” its previous cost reduction goals, and had increased the targeted savings from £20m to £35m.

Unite national officer Louisa Bull said 25% of the embattled security printer's UK workforce had already lost their jobs due to redundancy last year.

Of 2,827 employees worldwide at the end of De La Rue's last financial year to 30 March 2019, 57% were in the UK. 

“The future for De La Rue remains uncertain and Unite is pressing the senior management for more detailed answers about what the three-year turnaround actually means in terms of jobs, and employment conditions, including the employer’s contribution to the pension fund,” she stated.

De La Rue’s defined benefit scheme pension deficit liability of £76.8m is not included in its banking covenant ratio. 

“We understand that the turnaround plan needs to have an impact very quickly, but we are concerned how deep any cuts to the workforce may be – that’s why we need clarity to dispel the uncertainty,” Bull added.

Bull said the employment security of Unite members at De La Rue’s manufacturing operations here remained the union’s “prime concern”.

De La Rue has manufacturing sites in Debden (banknotes), Gateshead (banknote and security printing) and Westhoughton (polymer substrate and security features). It also has a technology centre in Overton and a design centre in Basingstoke.  

It is not yet clear how many employees will transfer to new provider Gemalto under TUPE when the UK passport contract, which was originally due to expire in July 2019, is fully transferred.

A De La Rue spokesperson told Printweek that De La Rue will be supporting a phased transition to Gemalto “that will run during the calendar year 2020”.

Activist investor Richard Bernstein’s Crystal Amber Fund, which is De La Rue’s largest shareholder, upped its stake from 14.33% to 16.05% following the turnaround plan announcement, while shares in De La Rue jumped to a year-to-date high of 149.79p.