Maskey makes plea over Shorts jobs

A former Lord Mayor of Belfast tonight urged management and staff at the troubled Belfast aerospace company Shorts to do what they could to safeguard its future.

Sinn Fein councillor Alex Maskey, who handed over the mayorship this week to the SDLP’s Martin Morgan, said he was disappointed by warnings that more than 1,000 jobs could be lost because of a lack of agreement over a pay deal.

Shorts’ Canadian-based parent company Bombardier warned yesterday 1,050 jobs could go on top of 1,200 redundancies currently being implemented.

The move is a result of the 6,000 workers at the east Belfast operation rejecting a pay and conditions deal put to them by management and endorsed by the trade unions.

In a statement Bombardier said the rejection of the proposals aimed at making the operation more competitive was “very disappointing”.

A spokesman said: “All employees before the ballot were made aware of the consequences for our business if we do not have an agreement in place.

“We deeply regret that we are forced to make these decisions but we must take action now to reduce costs in order to hold on to our remaining contracts and protect our business and the remaining jobs in the longer term.”

Democratic Unionist MP Peter Robinson, former Ulster Unionist Economy Minister Sir Reg Empey and cross community Alliance councillor Naomi Long have all expressed concern about the job losses.

East Belfast MP Mr Robinson urged the unions and management to take time to “settle the issues involved before committing themselves to irreversible decisions”.

Sir Reg of the UUP urged the Northern Ireland Office’s Economy Minister Ian Pearson to use whatever influence he could to ensure negotiations between the management and the trade unions restarted as soon as possible.

Councillor Long urged the Government to intensify its efforts to attract fresh investment into east Belfast.

But today Mr Maskey added his voice, saying he hoped the problems at the company could be overcome.

“On a recent visit to Seattle, I met with the management of Boeing to lobby on behalf of the Shorts factory in Belfast,” the former Lord Mayor said.

“This latest setback will lead to further uncertainty – not just on the shop floor which I visited last week but prospective business partners.

“Hopefully the current difficulties can be overcome and we can safeguard the future at Shorts of as many jobs as possible.”