1,000 defence jobs cut but city site escapes axe
Sep 10 2010 by John Hill, The Journal
BAE Systems has begun talks with unions about cutting nearly 1,000 jobs across the UK, but Newcastle workers appear to have been spared the latest round of losses.
The defence company announced yesterday that it was starting the minimum 90-day period of consultation over losses which would fall on its Military Air Solutions and Integrated System Technologies divisions.
Union officials warned the job losses could be the tip of the iceberg, but BAE’s Scotswood Road factory is not included in the list of affected sites such as Lancashire, Hampshire and Yorkshire.
BAE blamed the losses on the impact of changes to the defence programme announced in December, and to the purse-tightening expected when the Government announces the results of its Strategic Defence and Security Review in October.
BAE confirmed it was cutting 217 of the 650 jobs at Newcastle’s old Vickers factory in March after it lost out to General Dynamics in the bidding for the £1bn British Army Fres Scout armoured vehicles contract.
While it is still working through these cuts until the end of the year, the company has indicated that the latest announcement “was not about Newcastle”.
The Integrated System Technologies division will chop 206 posts in bases in Essex, Dorset, the Isle of Wight, Surrey, Fife, Bristol, Gwent, Hampshire and Lancashire, while Military Air Solutions has indicated that 212 jobs will potentially go in East Yorkshire, 26 in Greater Manchester, 55 in Hampshire, 149 in Samlesbury, Lancashire and 298 at Warton in the same county.
Military Air Solutions managing director Kevin Taylor said: “While we regret having to make this announcement we must ensure we remain competitive by having the correct skills, capabilities and resources.”
BAE’s chief executive Ian King told the defence select committee on Wednesday that he had been asked by ministers to provide a detailed financial breakdown of a range of options for its £5bn Royal Navy aircraft carrier contract, from proceeding with two as planned to cutting to one or delivering none at all.
The Ministry of Defence is looking for spending cuts of up to 20% in the next spending round, but King warned the Government could not just put such work on hold and then “come back to it”.
Hugh Scullion, general secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, said: “With the forthcoming defence review these cuts may be the tip of the iceberg but knee-jerk reactions from employers could make things even worse.”
A spokesman for Northern Defence Industries, which represents supply chain companies in the sector, said: “As yet we don’t know what the results of the defence review will be, but indications are that defence will take its share of any cuts the Government thinks are appropriate.
“There are a number of companies that have significant contracts and are delivering those contracts for the carriers.
“However, until something is published, everything is inevitably just speculation.”
