Airbus Cuts 250 Agency Jobs
AIRBUS has confirmed it is looking to lay off around 250 agency workers at its wing-making plant in Broughton, Flintshire.
A spokesman for Airbus said: “As part of a review of its business and manpower requirements, Airbus in the UK has asked Blue Arrow Managed Services to look at reducing the size of its complementary labour force at Airbus’ Broughton facility, by approximately 250.
“Representatives from Airbus in the UK, Blue Arrow Managed Services and Unite have been, and will continue to be, working closely together, in the coming months, to manage this situation effectively and responsibly, with the shared objective of avoiding compulsory redundancies of Blue Arrow employees wherever possible.
“Ongoing discussions on flexibility measures, which began in February, will continue.
“While the tri-partite consultation process is underway, including ongoing briefing to both Blue Arrow and Airbus employees, there will be no further media statements made.”
Speaking about the cuts Unite’s national officer Bernie Hamilton said: “This is the latest indication of how the global downturn is affecting the world economy.
“Unite is demanding that Airbus does everything possible to avoid compulsory cuts for the permanent and agency staff.
“Airbus must keep to their commitments, agreed after 9/11, which mean that, before the company considers compulsory redundancies, they must first bring outsourced work in-house, reduce overtime to a minimum and seek volunteers from the entire workforce.
“There are 1,400 temporary workers on the site. We will not allow these workers to be sacrificed.”
For more, see Tuesday’s Flintshire Evening Leader.
Originally posted 2009-03-23 16:47:07.
