Northern Rock shareholders made their way past union protesters today as they headed to a showdown with the crisis-hit bank’s board.

The lender is under pressure from investors demanding a bigger say in its future.

Members of the union Unite wearing “I am Northern Rock” T-shirts handed out leaflets to shareholders arriving for the meeting at the Metro Arena in Newcastle The union protesters said that they were speaking up for the 6,500 staff who work for Northern Rock.

Unite national officer Karen Reahy said: “Staff issues seem to have been on the backburner throughout all of this. What we’re clearly saying today is remember the staff.”

Robin Ashby, head of the Northern Rock Small Shareholders Group, was in defiant mood ahead of the extraordinary general meeting.

He said: “Our objective is to keep the bank a publicly-quoted company, based in the north-east.

“We are not asking for specialist treatment, we are asking not to be bullied by the Government and not to have our company stolen from us.”

He said the meeting would give shareholders a chance to meet five new directors who have been appointed to the board recently.

Northern Rock’s board says proposals from its two largest shareholders to retain some control over the firm’s future will hinder the efforts to rescue the company, which faces nationalisation if a private buyer is not be found.

Hedge funds SRM Global and RAB Capital, which together own around 18 per cent of the company, have jointly called for the meeting to prevent a sell-off of the ban on the cheap.

But Northern Rock chairman Bryan Sanderson called on shareholders to vote against their resolutions.

By Rob Hess