No justification

Unite has challenged the justification for 3M’s announcement of thirty-four job losses, after it informed the workforce compulsory redundancies are likely at its Bangor (Northern Ireland) site.

Unite regional officer Sean Smyth argued that the scale of the job losses is disproportionate to the transfer of production proposed, which will see Tier B tape manufacture transferred to Italy.

“This announcement has come as a cruel shock to the workforce, a third of whom now face the threat of redundancy in the mouth of Christmas,” Smyth said.

He explained that 3M Bangor has initiated a forty-five day consultation on proposals to reduce the workforce by thirty-four posts, with the majority going before the end of April 2016.

“They have also indicated that many of the job losses may have to be delivered through compulsory redundancy,” Smyth noted.

“Unite employee representatives have expressed to us the depth of shock and concern existing within the workforce over this sudden announcement which will reduce employment at the Bangor site by one-third,” he added.

Management is arguing that it is too expensive to produce the lower value-added Tier B tape at Bangor and is proposing to move this production to Grassobbio in Italy, leaving only production of the higher value-added Tier A tape in Bangor.

“However,” Smyth argued, “the total volume of production of Tier B tape at Bangor is between 16 and 20 per cent of total production on site, considerably less than the third of the total workforce who now face redundancy.”

“The disproportionate nature of this announcement has raised our concerns for the long-term future of production at the site,” he said.

Smyth explained that Unite is now looking for an urgent meeting with management to clarify the rationale for their proposals.

“We will endeavour to use the consultation period to work with management to reduce the number of job losses, avoid compulsory redundancies and mitigate impact on the retained workforce,” he said.