Union furious with Bombardier after it announces 95 more redundancies
BOMBARDIER is cutting up to 95 jobs in Northern Ireland due to what it says are the “extraordinary” challenges caused by coronavirus.
In June it announced the loss of up to 600 roles here, around 20% of its 3,500 workers. Now it’s said another 95 jobs among its core workforce are now at risk of redundancy. Canadian-owned Bombardier is one of several aerospace firms here who have shed jobs after lockdown triggered a collapse in demand for aviation.
But Jackie Pollock (right), regional secretary at trade union Unite, accused the company of using Covid-19 as a pretext for cutting jobs at its Belfast sites.
“Workers in Bombardier are extremely concerned that, rather than focusing on exerting pressure on both Stormont and Westminster for increased support for this critical industry — including extensions to the furlough scheme — employers are using the crisis as an excuse to reduce workforce numbers through a series of redundancies.” The company said yesterday: “Following our June announcement of a workforce reduction as a result of extraordinary industry interruptions and challenges caused by Covid-19, we have completed another review of our Belfast requirements for all our aircraft programmes.
“In light of additional softening of market demand for the remainder of this year and through 2021, we regret to confirm that we must make a further downward adjustment to our workforce levels.
“An additional 95 Bombardier core employee jobs in Northern Ireland are at risk of redundancy. The company will be lodging a formal HR1 redundancy notice with the Department for the Economy, following which there will be a 30-day consultation period when we will explore every opportunity to mitigate the number of redundancies.
“We deeply regret the impact this will have on our workforce and their families, but it is essential we align our business with current market realities to ensure we have a sustainable longterm future.”