Unions furious at job losses in NI engineering firm
Up to 760 jobs are to be axed by a major engineering company in the North, it was announced today.
FG Wilson, which is part of the international Caterpillar corporation, said the losses are part of measures to make the business more efficient and competitive.
The announcement was made as the Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness headed a mini summit to discuss the worsening economy and Northern Ireland’s unemployment rate of 8.2%.
The company makes diesel generator sets in Larne, Springvale and Monkstown that will be hit. The 760 includes about 170 agency workers who were informed in June that their jobs would go.
Union leaders said they were shocked by the scale of the redundancies.
Unite regional secretary Jimmy Kelly said he was furious.
“The company has once again thrown industrial relations guidelines back to Victorian times. Our members are spitting tacks at the way they are being treated.
“The high-calibre job losses are a crushing blow to the East Antrim area and Northern Ireland. The company has not given its workers or their union representatives the opportunity to negotiate a plan which would have attempted to keep some of the affected workers employed.”
Robert Kennedy, the company’s Northern Ireland operations director, said: “We understand these decisions will be difficult for the lives of many of our workers and their families, and we genuinely regret that.
“We are striving to reduce some of the impact by offering an enhanced VR package. We’ll also help redeploy displaced workers by providing training on new skill sets, partnering with potential Northern Ireland employers to host job fairs and hiring a placement service.”
The company announced in June that it was moving production of its 400 series generator sets to Tianjin, China, in order to build the product closer to its growing customer base.
Mr Kennedy added: “We realise the announcements we’re making affect a company that has a rich history in Northern Ireland.
“However, given our current structure and economic environment, portions of our portfolio are not competitive, and we need to react accordingly for long-term growth and to compete for industry leadership.
“Caterpillar is committed to building the remaining business in Northern Ireland and to working closely with local government, including Invest Northern Ireland, as we’re focused on keeping it competitive and sustainable for the future.”
The North's enterprise minister Arlene Foster said the job losses were a huge blow.
She added: “This is devastating for the hundreds of families who will be affected, particularly when so many people are already struggling in this difficult economic climate.”
