Blow to Scottish economy

Rolls-Royce is set to deliver a blow to the Scottish economy as it announced plans on Friday (March 27) to further axe over 200 jobs at two aircraft engine plants in Inchinnan and East Kilbride.

 
An estimated 180 jobs will be cut at the Inchinnan site, which manufactures aircraft engines, and will entail slashing the total number of shop floor workers by a third. At the East Kilbride repair and maintenance facility, 30 job posts are expected to go.

 
The latest announcement follows an onslaught of 500 job cuts since 2007 at the Inchinnan site. Unite has called on the company to give guarantees over compulsory redundancies and assurances over the future of aerospace engineering in Scotland.

 
While the company has claimed that the cuts are needed following a drop-off in customer demand, Unite regional officer Debbie Hutchings argued that this strategy was short-sighted.

 
“These cuts are a huge loss of skills to the Scottish economy and will lead to a further hollowing out of the company’s skills base in Scotland,” she said.

 
“Decent jobs are being taken out of the local economy in a short-term move which will undermine Scottish engineering.

 
“There is every danger that Rolls-Royce will shoot itself in the foot with this move and face a skills shortage when there is an upturn in orders,” Hutchings added.

 
“The company needs to give assurances over its long term plans for manufacturing in Scotland and provide guarantees over no compulsory redundancies.”

 
In November of last year, Rolls-Royce, in a vicious cost cutting measure, announced it would slash 2,600 jobs globally over the next 18 months, with an estimated two-thirds of the cuts to be made in the UK, according to the BBC.