Jobs crisis fears for aerospace workers

Almost one in seven of Scotland’s aerospace jobs have been lost or are atriskasaresultofthe coronavirus crisis that is crippling the civil aviation industry – with fears more are in jeopardy.

New figures from the union Unite show there were 7,800 jobs in the sector in Scotland in 2019 – generating £331m for the economy.

A host of redundancy announcements over the past few weeks has seen around 1,100 jobs either axed or in jeopardy.

Fears that more Scottish jobscouldbeatriskgrew after commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced this week it was shedding 15,000 workers globally – including 1,700 in the UK.

Among the losses so far, Spirit Aerosystems and GE Caledonian, two Us-owned aerospace companies based at Prestwick in South Ayrshire, are cutting their workforces by more than 300 in total.

Aero-engine giant Rolls Royce has also announced that up to 700 posts could be lost at its Inchinnan factory in Renfrewshire. And union reps say 72 jobs are under threat at Wyman Gordon in Livingston, which makes engine parts.

Paul Neilson, Unite regional officer, said: “The aerospace sector is clearly in a deep and urgent crisis.”