‘Great news’ as “Airbus does not see the need to implement forced redundancies” at Broughton and UK sites

Unions have welcomed a statement by Airbus that indicates there will likely be no compulsory redundancies in the UK, including the Broughton site.

Airbus have said, “Airbus has held a European Works Council (SE-WC) meeting on 3 March during which it confirmed to social partners that its COVID-19 adaptation plan would come to a formal conclusion no later than summer 2021. At this moment, and thanks to the effectiveness of all social measures deployed so far, Airbus does not see the need to implement forced redundancies in France, Germany and the UK – pending the successful deployment of ongoing internal mobility measures. Because the social process has started later in Spain, efforts are still ongoing to meet the objectives of the adaptation plan there.”

Unite Wales has today welcomed the announcement by Airbus, with Peter Hughes, Unite Wales Regional Secretary commenting “For our members at Airbus Broughton this is great news following a turbulent year that has seen the plant rocked by the effects of COVID-19. The Welsh aerospace sector has been under immense pressure due to the decline in aircraft orders resulting from the pandemic. The workforce has remained strong and united and today’s news is hopefully the first sign that the plant is on the road to recovery”.

Daz Reynolds, Unite Convenor for Airbus Broughton commented, “This news is an enormous relief to our members who have faced a year of continued uncertainty. Our recent agreement on a shorter working week at the plant has clearly paved the way for this announcement. Unite will continue to work constructively with the company to navigate a way out of this crisis. We are not out of the woods yet but to take the threat of compulsory job losses away is a significant step forward and great news for us all at Broughton.”