FULL STATEMENT: Firm to '˜optimise' workforce by cutting over 1,000 staff

A wave of staff at the Northern Irish wing of an international engineering firm are at risk of losing their jobs.

The announcement was made by Bombardier on Wednesday morning.

The cuts will be across all operations in Northern Ireland.

The firm has facilities in Belfast, Newtownards, Newtownabbey and Dunmurry (to the south-west of Belfast).

It has been described as a “hammer blow” for Northern Irish industry, and led to a call for enterprise minister Jonathan Bell to consider quitting.

The firm’s press release follows here:

“Bombardier Inc announced today that it is taking steps to optimise its workforce in 2016 and 2017.

“In line with this, we have reviewed our requirements in Belfast and regret to confirm that we must adjust our workforce levels downwards by around 580 this year.

“In addition, we expect to have a further potential reduction of some 500 next year.

“Around 200 Bombardier employee jobs in Northern Ireland are currently at risk of redundancy.

“The company will be lodging a formal HR1 redundancy notice with the Department for Employment and Learning, following which there will be a 90-day consultation period when we will explore opportunities to mitigate the number of compulsory redundancies.

“In addition, around 380 members of our Complementary Labour Force (CLF) and other agency workers are being released from their assignments with the company in 2016.

“This includes 60 CLF who already left the company in January.

“We deeply regret the impact this will have on our workforce and their families, but it is crucial that we right-size our business in line with market realities.

“We will continue to evaluate all opportunities to significantly reduce our costs, improve our competitiveness, and boost our profitability, whilst focusing on the unique capabilities that will help shape and secure our future.”