World class skills to go

Unite has called for Rolls-Royce to give assurances over its long term manufacturing future in the UK after it released more details of plans to axe 2,600 aerospace jobs worldwide. And Unite warned the company not to put short-term cost-cutting before the long-term needs of the business.

 
The cuts spell the end of the precision manufacturing facility at Derby with the loss of 190 jobs. A further 140 jobs would go at going a Ansty in Warwickshire with the closure of the turbine blade machining facility.

 
The company also informed the workforce that an unspecified number of roles will also be going in this first tranche of cuts from other parts of the business. The latest announcement put more detail on the plans released on November 4 for major cuts across its US and UK aerospace business.

 
Unite also called for the company to guarantee there would be no compulsory redundancies. Urging Rolls-Royce to give commitments over its manufacturing future in the UK, Unite warned that the cuts programme would result in vital skills being lost to the UK economy and see Rolls-Royce outsourcing jobs overseas to plug the skills gap.

 
Unite regional officer Tony Tinley said, “These cuts are a huge loss of skills to the UK economy and will result in Rolls-Royce outsourcing high-tech manufacturing jobs overseas to plug the skills gap in the future.

 
“The UK workforce is world class and has proved time and time again to be at the cutting edge of engineering. Rolls-Royce needs to give assurances over its long term future and manufacturing in the UK.

 
“There is a real danger that Rolls-Royce is making decisions in the short-term which it will later regret and it needs to give a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.”