The Belfast aerospace company Shorts has repeated its pledge to do its best to avoid compulsory redundancies in the course of a major restructuring programme which could cost the jobs of 200 engineers. Its vice-president, Mr Ken Brundle, confirmed that the company's assessment of its workload for 1998/99 showed that there was a surplus of 200 employees in this area.

Mr Brundle said the objective was to have no compulsory redundancies, and to maintain the existing skills within the company. However, he admitted that they may have to be used on what he called "different tasks and functions".

He believed compulsory redundancies could be avoided through natural wastage, redeployment, a reduction in overtime, and early retirement.

However, the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions remains opposed to any job losses. It claims the redundancies are part of a plan by Shorts parent company Bombardier to concentrate its research and development facilities in Canada, and as a result, the Belfast plant would be downgraded to nothing more than an assembly operation. It says more than 70 per cent of workers who took part in a recent ballot had voted in favour of strike action.