Airbus Broughton workers have voted ‘overwhelmingly’ in favour of shorter working week to save hundreds of jobs

Workers at Airbus in Broughton have voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to support the introduction of a shorter working week in order to save jobs.

Airbus opened talks with unions on reducing the Broughton workforce by 1,435 last summer after the planemaker said it was cutting 15,000 jobs globally due to the effects of the pandemic.

Nearly 1,000 jobs have gone through voluntary redundancies and around 450 production and production-support workers contracted to Airbus were made redundant last August.

Following a ballot of Unite members at Broughton, the workforce voted overwhelmingly in support of the proposals.

The plan which was negotiated between Unite and Airbus will see a reduction in the working week of 5%-10% for a short period of time.

The agreement that the workforce has now accepted will remove the possibility of compulsory redundancies and provide a roadmap to a resumption of full time working once the COVID-19 crisis recedes.

 Peter Hughes, Unite Wales Regional Secretary said: “Whilst it is not ideal that our members have had to commit to a shorter working week, this decision should be viewed against the background of an unprecedented crisis in global aviation.”

“This solution to the crisis faced by Airbus is one that could be deployed to other manufacturing sites across Wales in order to avoid large scale redundancies.”

“These unprecedented times require creative solutions.”

“Unite members have overwhelmingly made the selfless decision to reduce their hours and pay to secure the jobs of their fellow workers.”

“Ultimately this is an act of collective solidarity by a world class workforce. ”.

 Daz Reynolds, Unite Convenor at Airbus said: “The senior trade union team at Airbus are delighted that the workforce have backed the proposal we have negotiated with Airbus to save jobs.”

“This is a short term measure that will protect highly skilled jobs at Broughton, including the fourth year apprentices who are looking for a long term future with Airbus.”

“Coronavirus has been devastating for the Aerospace sector and the past year has been extremely difficult for the site, after losing almost 1,000 jobs through voluntary redundancy todays result is extremely welcome for all our members.”

“Unite will always do everything it can to protect our members interests and today’s decision does that in its purest form, by saving jobs. ”

“This result gives us a route out of the current crisis and we now look to the future and better times ahead, we will continue to work constructively with the company to secure a long term future for this plant and everyone employed here”.

Broughton Head of Plant Jerome Blandin said: “We are delighted the Trade Union members have supported a proposal which was rooted in helping save jobs at the Plant.”

“The shorter working week increases our flexibility and will help us manage the downturn in demand we are facing.”

“We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the TU on the implementation of the new working arrangements at the appropriate time.”