CROSS-BORDER FIGHT TO PROTECT AIRBUS JOBS CONTINUES

Council leaders and council cabinet members from North Wales and West Cheshire met again on Thursday to discuss the recent devastating announcement about redundancies at Airbus in Broughton.

Recognising the important role that employment at Airbus plays in the wider economic sustainability of communities in North Wales, Cheshire and Merseyside, Councillors Louise Gittins, Ian Roberts, Derek Butler and Richard Beacham have released the following joint statement:

“We’re deeply concerned about the failure of the Chancellor to recognise the growing crisis in the aerospace industry in his speech earlier this week. Without a proper package of support for Airbus – and specifically for the Broughton site, which faces the largest number of redundancies in the UK -the economic impact on the workforce, contractors, supply chain and local business that benefit from Airbus being based in this location is unimaginable.

“We will continue to work with the Unions and Airbus management to provide quality information to the workforce, but there remains a significant gap in assurances from government about their intention to protect jobs or offer to fund local councils so that we can begin the vital work of developing opportunities for training and support.

“We are urging local Conservative MPs in North Wales and the North West to join us in lobbying the UK government to look to Europe where the French and German governments are extending furloughs and being innovative and forward-thinking in their offers of support to the sector.”

Chris Matheson is the Member of Parliament for Chester and the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Aerospace. Chris said:

“Without a plane in the sky for months, it doesn’t take an economist to recognise that the impact of Covid-19 has been significant for the aerospace industry. It is going to take years for air travel to return to pre-Covid levels and this will have an impact on the Airbus order book. We cannot afford to sit on our hands and this period does not have to be about job losses. The government could instead decide to invest in a funding package that upskills the Broughton workforce by providing paid training for a set number of hours a week, this would allow Airbus to retain more staff and reduce redundancies by having a shorter working week. Overall, the paid training and a shorter working week would retain current wage levels for the workforce and a bold move like this would be about investing in our people, not discarding them, and about creating the aerospace workforce for the future – now!”

Darren Reynolds, convener at Airbus for the UNITE Union said:

“This is about the wings of the future. The decisions we make now affect where wings for new aeroplanes will be made for decades to come. When this industry is growing again – and this will happen – we need to make sure our people are ready. Cutting skilled jobs is short-sighted – investment in our workforce now will pay dividends for the economy in the Mersey Dee area in the future. Airbus workers are passionate about their jobs and proud that this world-class business is rooted in this community – we need to be united in our common endeavour to protect jobs, look after our communities and invest in a future for this generation and the next generation of workers at the Broughton site.”