Almost 100 jobs at risk as continued coronavirus pressures hit Bombardier Belfast

By PA reporter

Almost 100 more jobs are set to go at Bombardier’s operations in Belfast, the aircraft manufacturer has announced.

The announcement of the potential 95 redundancies comes two months after the company announced that more than 600 jobs were to be lost at the plant in the east of the city  – 400 core staff members and 200-plus contractors.

Bombardier announced the further redundancies on Tuesday afternoon.

There's more bad news for workers at Bombardier. 95 jobs are under threat at the Belfast plane makers. The company says a review of its Belfast requirements means it has to make a downward adjustment to its workforce in the wake of the Covid - 19 pandemic.

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) August 18, 2020

“Following our June announcement of a workforce reduction as a result of extraordinary industry interruptions and challenges caused by Covid-19, we have completed another review of our Belfast requirements for all our aircraft programmes,” the company said.

“In light of additional softening of market demand for the remainder of this year and through 2021, we regret to confirm that we must make a further downward adjustment to our workforce levels.

“An additional 95 Bombardier core employee jobs in Northern Ireland are at risk of redundancy. The company will be lodging a formal HR1 redundancy notice with the Department for the Economy, following which there will be a 30-day consultation period when we will explore every opportunity to mitigate the number of redundancies.

“We deeply regret the impact this will have on our workforce and their families, but it is essential we align our business with current market realities to ensure we have a sustainable long-term future.”