JOB CUTS BOMBSHELL

490 staff to be axed at firm’s NI factory

NORTHERN Ireland’s economy was dealt a “hammer blow” yesterday as Bombardier revealed it is to axe 490 jobs.

Union bosses branded the Canadian firm “cruel and callous” and said its Belfast facility had been affected disproportionately by the cuts.

It comes just months after Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed Bombardier would receive almost £12million of new Government funding to secure jobs at its Belfast factory. Earlier this month the company said it was cutting 5,000 jobs worldwide – 3,000 in Canada.

But the firm announced yesterday they had reviewed manpower in Belfast and “regret to confirm that we must reduce our workforce” by around 10%.

In a statement Bombardier added: “We acknowledge the impact this will have on our workforce and their families and we continue to explore opportunities to help mitigate the number of compulsory redundancies.

“However, we need to continue to cut costs and improve the efficiency of our operations to help ensure our longterm competitiveness.”

But Unite’s Susan Fitzgerald said the job losses were “unneccessary” and added the company were “seemingly never satisfied”.

She added: “The announcement is a hammer blow, not just for Bombardier workers, but for the

Northern Ireland economy. You have to go home today and tell your family, tell your partner, tell your children, a month before Christmas their security has been whipped from under them. It’s cruel and it’s callous. Northern Ireland has an incredible skills base and it’s being eroded.”

This is a hammer blow not just for workers but for the economy SUSAN FITZGERALD YESTERDAY

SHOCK Bombardier plant in East Belfast

CRITICAL Unite’s Susan Fitzgerald