{"id":13595,"date":"2017-09-27T12:17:56","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T11:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13595"},"modified":"2017-09-28T23:03:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T22:03:18","slug":"without-merit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13595","title":{"rendered":"‘Without merit’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite and other unions have slammed a decision from the US Department of Commerce, which ruled that a 220 per cent tariff should be levied on the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s imported CSeries planes, whose wings are manufactured in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The decision announced last night (September 26) sent shockwaves throughout Northern Ireland \u00e2\u20ac\u201c nearly 1,000 direct jobs involving CSeries wing production may be at risk, as well as thousands more throughout the rest of the Bombardier factory and wider supply chain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite senior shop steward George Burnside told the Guardian<\/a> he had been getting phone calls from fellow colleagues from early in the morning asking why the tariff was so large.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey cannot believe the enormity of it or get their heads around it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere have been a lot of tough times at this factory over the last 26 years and we got through. I hope that the company will appeal and the battle isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t over yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere are highly skilled jobs inside this plant which is the biggest manufacturer in Northern Ireland,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThousands of other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jobs outside of Bombardier depend on this company too. There are a lot of worried people out there not only in Northern Ireland but the Republic and Britain who supply into Bombardier. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very worrying time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In its ruling<\/a>, the Department of Commerce argued that the CSeries, on which Delta airlines had placed an order of up to 125 planes to be delivered next year, was sold well below the cost of production because it had received state aid from the Canadian and UK governments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Hypocritical’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite believes these claims are wrong and hypocritical. The public investment Bombardier has received, Unite argues, is perfectly legal and Boeing did not suffer harm from the Delta order in any case \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it never even put in a bid. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more, Boeing itself has received billions in dollars of investment from the US government.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite Ireland regional secretary Jim Kelly explained while the decision was not unexpected, Unite will fight tooth and nail for jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said the threat of punitive tariffs on the CSeries \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwill cast a shadow over Bombardier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future unless the company can source alternative and substantial sales outside the US market\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and blamed US president Donald Trump\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s protectionist tendencies for the fact that the Depart of Commerce\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision is unlikely to be overturned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision in favour of Boeing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s allegations of anti-competitive pricing poses a direct and very serious threat to the 4,500 Bombardier jobs in Belfast and many more dependent on them across our service sector and in the wider supply chain,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis would cause serious damage to our economy and to our society \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which needs a robust economy to underpin our society\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued political progress and the path to reconciliation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite this ruling, Boeing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case is without merit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they suffered no detriment from Bombardier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success in winning the Delta order,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly added. \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is supportive of the Bombardier defence and we are determined to ensuring no fall out in regard to the jobs of our members.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite and other unions as well as MPs have called for immediate government action and have criticised prime minister Theresa May for her tepid approach \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in contrast to the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau who to review government contracts for Boeing products.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Damning indictment’ <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

May is said to have raised the issue with Donald Trump in a phone conversation before the ruling \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but no other action has been taken since.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shadow industrial strategy minister Chi Onwurah said today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outcome demonstrated the prime minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ineptness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a damning indictment of the criminal negligence and complacency of Theresa May and her government, and a sign of their entire lack of international negotiating skills which bodes really badly for our post-Brexit negotiations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she told Sky News.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kelly has argued the UK government has the leverage to take effective action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBoeing is highly exposed to action by the UK government \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which constitutes its second biggest client globally,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs such we welcome today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s statement by the Secretary of State, James Brokenshire, which stood over the legality of the support provided both on a UK level and by the Northern Ireland Executive. The government must continue to defend its ability to invest in vital manufacturing sectors and to defend UK workers.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite this blow, the Bombardier jobs can still be safeguarded,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UK government must now intervene to secure orders from British carriers for Bombardier aircraft \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they should also immediately review all contracts with Boeing. If other countries are going to erect protectionist barriers to UK companies, our government needs to be proactive in response.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Department of Commerce ruling will be followed by a final decision in February next year, when the US International Trade Commission will either accept the initial ruling or could potentially dismiss it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite and other unions have slammed a decision from the US Department of Commerce, which ruled that a 220 per cent tariff should be levied on the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s imported CSeries planes, whose wings are manufactured in Northern Ireland.   The decision announced last night (September 26) sent shockwaves throughout Northern Ireland \u00e2\u20ac\u201c nearly 1,000 direct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[802,801,158,561],"wps_subtitle":"NI-made wings levy threat slammed ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13595"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13595"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13616,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13595\/revisions\/13616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}