Rolls-Royce axes 700
Workers in tears as firm reveals ‘brutal’ cuts, amid aviation industry meltdown
AROUND 700 jobs are being axed at Scotland’s RollsRoyce plant in what was described as a ‘dark day’ for the aviation industry.
There are fears the redundancies, at the firm’s site in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, will cause ‘lasting damage’ to the economy.
Rolls-Royce is cutting around 3,000 jobs in the UK and more than 9,000 globally as it opens a voluntary severance scheme.
The bulk of the cuts are expected to be made in Derby.
Rolls-Royce, which makes jet engines, has been hit by the lack of global demand for aircraft as travel grinds to a halt worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Scottish site, near Glasgow
Airport, employs 1,300 staff. Workers told yesterday how some had broken down in tears after being given the news.
One, who asked not to be named said: ‘I saw the whole thing, it was brutal. There were people in tears.
It was devastating to watch. We all knew the industry was in trouble but nobody predicted cuts of this scale. It has come out of the blue for most people.
‘It’s only a matter of time before the rest of us are hit.’
The Unite union said the cuts were ‘devastating’ for the workforce and a ‘major blow to Scottish manufacturing’.
Unite regional officer Debbie Hutchings added: ‘We are entering a critical phase of the process in saving the Inchinnan site, and it now requires the urgent intervention from both the Scottish and
UK governments to save thousands of jobs.’
Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: ‘The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and I have pressed the company to consider all available options and utilise the extensive manufacturing support system in place in Scotland to help protect and minimise the impact on jobs at the Inchinnan site and related supply chains.
‘The employees affected by this announcement are our immediate priority. We will offer support to staff through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations,
Partnership Action for Continuing Employment.’
Rolls-Royce said it had to deal with the ‘enormous impact’ of Covid-19 on the aviation industry.
A spokesman added: ‘At our Inchinnan facility we have indicated that the likely number of impacted roles will be around 700, based on our immediate load reduction requirements.
‘These roles will be predominantly from our services team, which has seen a dramatic drop in demand since the start of the pandemic and we do not expect that to recover in the medium term.
‘As a result we are considering withdrawing our services capability from the site entirely.
‘This number of proposed job losses is a terrible prospect for our people and the communities that are impacted, and we understand how devastating it must be for everyone at the Inchinnan plant.’