DON'T leave your workers in the dark.

That is the call from Eastleigh Council leader Keith House to bosses at engineering giant Alstom after crunch talks on the future of its Hampshire plant.

Unions and company bosses were remaining tight-lipped in the wake of yesterday's high-level meeting to thrash out the future of the Eastleigh works.

Talks were adjourned and are due to continue next week. But the plant's 550 workers are left anxiously awaiting news of their future amid widespread fears it could close, severing a link between Eastleigh and the railways that goes back more than 100 years.

Councillor House said: "Clearly it is very important that discussions that might save the plant continue as long as they need to, if that is going to

get the result that Eastleigh workers want.

"But if there is any news, it is vitally important that this is communicated to all the Eastleigh workers."

The Amicus union was one of five involved in yesterday's meeting in Rugby, Warwickshire, and is planning to prepare an information leaflet for its members about the state of the talks tomorrow.

The Daily Echo revealed on Tuesday that the debt-laden French engineering giant is reviewing the future of the historic site, along with others in Preston, Glasgow and Wolverton.

Alstom, which built Southampton based £550m cruise liner Queen Mary 2, has repeatedly made the headlines since racking up debts last year of £3.2 billion.

It has long been rumoured the Eastleigh depot has not been doing well, despite assurances from Alstom eight months ago that there were "green shoots" of recovery.

The workforce there currently stands at 450 and 100 contractors.