Workers "shocked" as Bombardier announces sale of Belfast business

Q Radio news

There's shock among workers at Bombardier after its parent company announced it's to sell the business in Belfast. 

The company currently employs about 4,000 people here, but has not alluded to any staff redundancies in the announcement. 

Earlier this week the company gave assurances it would suspend compulsory redundancies.

That followed an announcement last November that the firm said it was planning to cut 490 jobs from it's Northern Ireland operation. 

Susan Fitzgerald, Regional Coordinating Officer for @UniteunionNI with direct responsibility for #Bombardier addresses assembled press this afternoon. She says today’s announcement is the lastest in a series of blows to the workforce. @qnewsdesk pic.twitter.com/qKI93NpQyC

— Michael McGrane (@michaelmcgrane_) 2 May 2019

The company has made hundreds of redundancies in the region in recent years blaming a 'global restructuring' of the business. 

A statement from Bombardier on Thursday morning read as follows “Our sites in Belfast and Morocco have seen a significant increase in work from other global customers in recent years.

" We are recognised as a global leader in aerostructures, with unique end-to-end capabilities – through design and development, testing and manufacture, to after-market support. Bombardier is committed to finding the right buyer – one that will operate responsibly and help us achieve our full growth potential.

 "We understand that this announcement may cause concern among our employees, but we will be working closely with them and our unions as matters progress, and through any future transition period to a new owner. 

 "There are no new workforce announcements as a result of this decision, but our management team will continue to drive ongoing transformation initiatives to improve productivity and increase our competitiveness, to give more weight to our unique value proposition to potential buyers.” 
This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly. "

George Burnside, @UniteunionNI Senior Steward at #Bombardier, says the workforce are continually being cast aside. pic.twitter.com/kTb8Up3gXh

— Michael McGrane (@michaelmcgrane_) 2 May 2019

Michael Muholland from the GMB Union said: “GMB demands reassurances over the future of Bombardier workers in Northern Ireland.

“Our members – and their families - have already suffered a terrible year. After months of uncertainty following Trump’s tariffs – they were then hit with the news of 490 job losses - and now this.

“Bombardier jobs are absolutely vital to Northern Ireland’s economy and its time workers were treated with the respect they deserve.

"GMB will be meeting reps today and over the next few days to discuss next steps."