Bombardier to cut nearly 500 jobs in Northern Ireland

By Hannah Spratt

Bombardier in Belfast is set to cut nearly 500 jobs from it's operations.

The transport company employs around 70,000 globally and announced two weeks ago that 5,000 jobs would be cut.

It's understood around 4,000 staff work at the company’s sites in Newtownards and Belfast.

Susan Fitzgerald from Unite the Union says there could be more than 500 losses at Bombardier across Northern Ireland: pic.twitter.com/lhD7UU1vqi

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) 21 November 2018

In a statement to Q Radio the company said:

“Following the global workforce adjustments announced by Bombardier Inc. on November 8, 2018, we have reviewed our manpower requirements in Belfast and regret to confirm that we must reduce our workforce across the company by 490 employees. 

“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 long-term competitiveness.”

Unite Regional Secretary for Ireland, Jackie Pollock said.

“Today’s announcement by Bombardier that 490 jobs in Northern Ireland are to be cut is a heavy blow for the local economy and represents more than ten percent of the total workforce here. This would mean that a disproportionate number of the five thousand jobs to be cut globally will be going in Northern Ireland. The jobs under threat range across all skillsets and occupations and are exclusive of job losses among agency workers/ sub-contractors and the possible future outsourcing of so-called ‘non-core activities’.

“Although these jobs will not go until February or March, this announcement is a cruel blow for the Bombardier workforce in the mouth of Christmas. Unite has feared for some time that Bombardier might be bringing forward large-scale redundancies but this news exceeds our worse fears”, Mr Pollock said.

Unite Regional Coordinating Officer, Susan Fitzgerald, confirmed her union will be seeking an urgent meeting with Bombardier global management to express their anger and disgust at today’s announcement and insist on an alternative plan being brought forward that does not lead to job-losses.

“There is no justification for these job-losses. Bombardier’s profits are increasing rapidly and the company’s finances have stabilised. This is more about satisfying the insatiable demands of the financial sector than about securing the skills base of its workforce. Bombardier corporate management seem enthralled by the need to generate ever higher profits for shareholders’ benefit through retrenchment, outsourcing and offshoring work.

“Skilled workers cannot accept being hired and fired on the basis of how much more profit will go to shareholders. Unite is already engaging with trade unions representing workers across the Bombardier sites in Europe and North America to bring forward a global workers’ response to this race-to-the-bottom agenda”, Ms Fitzgerald said.