Unite to address committee over Bombardier jobs

Despite a deal with Airbus last month for the C Series planes which saw it buy a 60% majority stake, the company still has other problems.

The most prominent of those is the 300% tariff that the US government is threatening to impose on the sales of those aircraft.

That was in response to a complaint from rivals Boeing that the company was getting unfair subsidies from the Canadian government.

Jimmy Kelly, Unite's Ireland Secretary, said they wanted to impress on the Committee that work needed to be carried out now to try and eliminate the threat to the workforce in east Belfast.

“This hearing is an opportunity for representatives of the workforce and their trade union, Unite, to put on record our concerns for the Bombardier workforce as a result of the punitive 300% tariffs threatened to be levied on the company’s C Series aircraft by the protectionist Trump administration," he said.

“Despite the recent acquisition of a majority stake in the C Series by Airbus in the last month, the threat to jobs remains as there is as yet no indication that the tariffs will be lifted.

"Since more than 60% of the company’s workforce will depend on C Series production for their employment in three years’ time, there are genuine concerns that tariffs on this scale, on the largest market in the world will prejudice the future of Bombardier in Northern Ireland.

“These import-duties have been raised as a result of the meritless case taken by Boeing claiming state-aid had led to Bombardier enjoying an unfair advantage, one that enabled them to win a recent contract for the delivery of aircraft to Delta airlines.

"The truth is that all aerospace companies receive support from their own governments and that Boeing didn’t even compete for the deal and suffered no loss as a result.

"There is more than enough leverage to end their bully-boy approach threatening so many jobs in Northern Ireland”, Mr Kelly concluded.

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