Bombardier Aerospace believes it has made "significant progress" in protecting more than 1,000 jobs under threat at its Belfast facility because of the downturn in the global aviation sector.
In a trading statement released yesterday, the Canadian aviation giant gave its first hopeful indication that the jobs may be safeguarded if there is no further deterioration in its core market sectors.
Bombardier announced a wide-scale restructuring programme, including 2,100 job cuts in Belfast, following the US September atrocities. The Canadian group, which employs more than 6,000 people in the North, said production in Belfast slumped 15-50 per cent.Some 966 staff have already been made redundant in Belfast.
A Bombardier spokesman in Northern Ireland said yesterday these jobs had been rescued because of mitigation measures the group had pursued with the support of trade unions in Belfast.
He said the group would review staff requirements in February. "The company is ensuring that the necessary engineering and manufacturing skills are being retained in order to maintain our competitiveness," the spokesman said.
But Amicus, formerly the Manufacturing, Science and Finance trade union, intends to go ahead with plans to ballot 700 aircraft design engineers at Bombardier later this week. Mr Kevin McAdam, Amicus regional officer, did not believe the group needed to shed so many staff.
"We have always argued that Bombardier embarked on a knee-jerk reaction to the industry downturn," Mr McAdam said.
The North's Minister of Enterprise, Sir Reg Empey, held meetings with trade union representatives. "When I was at Bombardier Aerospace headquarters in Montreal in December, I received personal assurances from Laurent Beaudoin, president of the company, that a strong integrated design and engineering function would be retained in Northern Ireland," he said.
