Bombardier To Cut 490 Jobs At Belfast Plant

Bombardier has announced plans to cut 490 jobs at its Northern Ireland manufacturing plant as it continues the restructuring of its business divisions.

The cuts to the 4,000 it employs in Belfast are part of Bombardier’s previously announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 5,000. Many of the redundancies are expected to come from the company’s Canadian operations, with most from its train division.

The Belfast layoffs due in February or March next year come after a review of manpower requirements, Bombardier said.

Most of the Northern Ireland workforce are based at a fuselage and wing production plant in the city.

The Unite union described the redundancies as a bombshell and a heavy blow for the local economy. The layoffs represent more than 10 percent of the total workforce, it said.

Unite’s Irish Regional Secretary Jackie Pollock said the jobs under threat range across all skillsets and occupations and don’t include further job losses among agency workers and sub-contractors.

“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,” Pollock said.

The union confirmed it will seek a meeting with Bombardier’s global management to express anger at the announcement and will insist on an alternative plan that does not lead to job-losses.