Rolls-Royce to cut 2,000 jobs after aviation downturn

Rolls-Royce to cut 2,000 jobs after aviation downturn


The aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce said it was planning to reduce its global workforce by up to 2,000 to cope with the global downturn and delays to the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A380.

The company has already opened talks over cutting 140 jobs at its Derby assembly and test facility and there are concerns there could be further job losses in Britain, which accounts for 60% of the company's 39,000-strong workforce.

In the defence sector, BAE Systems said it was cutting 200 jobs across plants within its armoured fighting vehicles business. The company's shipbuilding joint venture, BVT, is reducing the number of administrative positions by 300 - though BAE said natural wastage and vacancies meant it was only seeking 135 redundancies.

BVT, the company formed from the merger of VT shipbuilding with BAE's surface shipbuilding operations, is involved in constructing two new aircraft carriers and destroyers for the Royal Navy. BVT said the job losses were from cutting out duplication between the merged firms.

Elsewhere, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said 250 jobs would go in Macclesfield as part of a programme that will see 1,400 job losses and three plant closures in Europe over the next five years. The company said the job reductions, which will see factory closures in Spain, Belgium and Sweden, would improve the company's productivity and efficiency.

Meanwhile, Arjowiggins began talks over the future of the 127 staff at Dartford Paper Mill in Kent.

BAE Systems said its decision to shed 200 jobs at sites in Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Barrow and Telford had been prompted by a fall in the workload from the Ministry of Defences (MoD) armoured fighting vehicle programme. The announcement led to a political row, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats attacking the government.

Liam Fox, shadow secretary of state for defence, said: "Losing crucial defence jobs at a time when we are still involved in two conflicts abroad is testament to the incompetence and inefficiency of Labour's entire defence policy. The losers in this saga are British workers and British soldiers."

Nick Harvey, Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, said: "The MoD's staggering incompetence over its armoured vehicle procurement programme now seems to be taking its toll on British jobs.

"It is hard to believe that while our troops in Afghanistan are facing a crippling shortage of suitable vehicles, the jobs to make those vehicles are still being cut in the UK. The recession is already hitting jobs hard in Britain. The last thing we need is for this to be compounded by government incompetence."

An MoD spokesman said: "BAE Systems continues to support our existing fleet of armoured fighting vehicles on operations and has the capacity to do so, but the terrain and threat in Afghanistan requires different types of vehicle such as Mastiff, Ridgback and Jackal, which are manufactured and integrated by different companies. We prioritise getting the right vehicles for current operations, with over £1bn spent on a wide range of vehicles."

Rolls-Royce said it had looked at the potential impact of the global downturn as well as delays to the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787, for which it supplies engines. It said: "While it is too early to be specific about the precise implications for the number and location of job losses, the group's current assessment is that in 2009 it will be necessary to implement job reductions across the various sections and functions of around 1,500 to 2,000 on a worldwide basis, including the reduction announced today."

Bernie Hamilton, of the Unite union, called the announcement "bitterly disappointing". "Rolls-Royce must take a measured approach ... In the past the company has cut too many jobs and struggled to meet the upturn in the market. Unite is urging the government to use the pre-budget report to support UK manufacturing and encourage companies to retain workers so when market conditions improve a skill shortage is not the outcome.

THE GUARDIAN