More than 3000 workers at Airbus Broughton set to be furloughed

News and Info from Deeside, Flintshire, North Wales

This article is old - Published: Monday, Apr 27th, 2020

Airbus is to furlough 3,200 employees at its plant at Broughton in response to the coronavirus crisis which has hit the airline industry hard.

The move has been agreed with the company’s unions, is expected to involve groups of workers being furloughed for staggered 3 week periods.

The majority of Airbus Production and Production-Support teams in Broughton will be impacted by the move.

Commenting on the move by Airbus, Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami said:

“I welcome the decision by Airbus to announce the furloughing of workers, in line with an agreement negotiated with the trade union.

This will protect jobs for the long term, and makes full use of the Government’s furlough scheme, as well as providing some additional funding from the company.

Other local employers should also be looking to take full advantage of the support available to help their workers and businesses through this challenging time.”

“This move helps guarantee Airbus’ future in Broughton, for when it is safe to resume production as normal.”

Airbus’ chief executive Guillaume Faury reportedly told the company’s 135,000 employees the plane maker is “bleeding cash” due to dropped demand because of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to reports, Mr Faury said: “We’re bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed, which may threaten the very existence of our company.”

As part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic the UK government has introduced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

It allows employers to furlough staff and claim cash grants up to 80% of wages, capped at £2,500 per worker.

Airbus will top up gross salaries to bring pay up to 85-90% of pay, in accordance with an agreement signed with trade union representatives.

The planemaker cut production rates by a third earlier this month, A320 family jets has been reduced from a rate of 60 to 40 per month, A330 rate will reduce from six to two per month and A350 production rate will drop from 10 to six per month.