Pay talks at Shorts close to collapse

Efforts to resolve the long-running pay dispute at Belfast aerospace company Shorts appeared to have broken down tonight.

Unions asked for the negotiations to be adjourned until the New Year, accusing management of making a derisory offer and of adopting an intransigent position.

Management at the east Belfast company, the largest manufacturing employer in Northern Ireland, said the call was “very disappointing”.

They had been anxious to find a resolution to the months-long dispute over pay and conditions and put a final contract offer to workers this week.

The latest round of negotiations has been going on for much of the past week after some 4,500 members of Amicus and the TGWU unions called off an all-out strike after a week.

Shorts said in a statement that it would now “review its position”, but said it was committed to finding a way forward.

It added: “This must take account of the very challenging market conditions and ensure the company remains competitive, thereby protecting jobs in the long term.”

The company’s Canadian parent, Bombardier, warned during the summer that a rejection then of a four-year pay deal with a wage freeze in the first year would result in 1,000 redundancies, on top of some 2,000 since the September 11 terror attacks on the US hit the air industry.

The offer was revised but no deal made and eventually the bulk of the workforce went on strike on the specific issues of the introduction of an afternoon shift – to replace an night shift which carried a larger overtime premium – and redundancies.

The strike was called off and negotiations entered into when the company withdrew the afternoon shift and pledged no redundancies before March.

Peter Williamson of Amicus said tonight after four days of discussion: “The company need to get real and put a real offer to this workforce.”

He said the talks were not off but he wanted the company to consider its position over the Christmas period and respond to a position put to them by unions in January.

He conceded the union position was “radically” different to the management offer. “They are offering zilch, zero in the first year – not even the rate of inflation – and on year two they are offering 2% and year three two and a quarter per cent.”

He added: “I would really urge the company to seriously consider their position over the Christmas period.”