Unite blames Tory-led government for BAE Systems’ redundancies
16 March 2011
Unite, the UK's biggest union, has reacted angrily to an
announcement today that 450 people will be made compulsorily
redundant at BAE Systems as a result of government decisions made
in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) last
autumn.
BAE Systems had previously said that 2,447 job losses were
possible as a result of decisions such as the scrapping of the
Nimrod MRA4 and the accelerated retirement of the Harrier aircraft.
The company has worked closely with Unite to mitigate job losses,
but there will still be around 450 compulsory redundancies across
at least six sites.
Reacting to the news, Ian Waddell, Unite national officer for
aerospace & shipbuilding, said: "The blame for these job losses
lies firmly at the door of Liam Fox and the rest of the Tory-led
government. The short sighted, financially driven decisions taken
in the SDSR is illustrated by the reality of hundreds of highly
skilled, economically valuable men and women losing their jobs.
"BAE Systems has done everything possible to avoid sacking
people, but the enormity of these cuts is such that compulsory
redundancies are now inevitable.
"There is a serious capability gap which the UK's armed forces
now face, proving that there was nothing strategic about the
review.”
Mr Waddell called for the SDSR to be re-opened and argued that
any review should be seen in the light of the impact on the whole
UK economy: "The UK has been heavily reliant on service sector jobs
and the finance industry and our economy has been seriously
weakened as a result. The government should re-open the SDSR and
find ways to save high skill, high value manufacturing jobs to
rebalance our economy and help drive growth. So far, they have done
the opposite, slashing the very jobs that could help turn the UK
around."
ENDS
Contact: Ciaran Naidoo on 07768 931 315
