Shorts' workers begin all-out strike

Thousands of workers at Belfast aerospace company Shorts began an all-out strike today.

Members of the Amicus and TGWU unions, who make up the bulk of the east Belfast company’s 5,500 workforce, downed tools and marched out of the company’s main entrance with union banners flying.

A company spokesman said the exact number of workers who had gone on strike had yet to be assessed, but said the bulk of the 4,400 members of the two unions had left.

Production was at a “virtual standstill”, though members of other unions and management remained in work.

The action is the culmination of a long-running dispute at the company which began in the summer when members of the two unions narrowly rejected a four-year pay and conditions agreement – backed by shop stewards – involving a pay freeze in the first year.

The company’s Canadian parent Bombardier has warned 1,000 jobs will have to go if the deal is not implemented.

Separately, in the spring, as the impact of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States continued to hit the aircraft industry, 600 workers were made redundant.

Another 580 were warned they would have to go before next spring, however that number has since been reduced to 100.

The pay deal, the redundancies, and the introduction of an afternoon shift to replace a night shift which carries a larger overtime premium, have all come together to cause a breakdown in relations between management and unions and ultimately the strike action.

Shorts is Northern Ireland’s largest manufacturing employer, and the all-out strike is the first at the plant in 20 years.

Jackie Pollock of Amicus said there was “a lot of anger and frustration” at the company’s attitude to the current dispute.

He added: “There was no need for an all-out stoppage, we could have resolved this if management had got around the table.”

Company spokesman Alec McRitchie said: “Industrial action doesn’t resolve anything. We need the unions to re-engage with us so we can find a way of resolving this dispute.”

Both sides say they want to talk but haven’t managed to get around the table since strike action was first decided upon. Previous discussions at the Labour Relations Agency also failed to end the dispute.

Mr McRitchie said the aircraft industry had been badly hit by September 11 and its customers were renegotiating prices some 30% down on those previously paid for aircraft.

“We have to match those prices with cost reductions,” he said.

If the pay deal and conditions package was not implemented, jobs would have to go.

He said Bombardier workers in Canada and the United States had made significant pay concessions, more than being asked for in Belfast, and the local workers had to face up to the situation.