Union bosses at Bombardier concerned over outsourcing at five sites in North

Trade union bosses in Northern Ireland claim workers at Bombardier's five sites in the North are worried about the group's "continued outsourcing and offshoring of jobs and functions".

Susan Fitzgerald, Unite's regional coordinating officer, said almost 3,000 workers from the five sites signed a "collective grievance" document highlighting these concerns which was delivered to Bombardier management in the North on Monday.

Ms Fitzgerald said :"At the end of August management informed the workforce that they were to sell-off the tubing and systems operations (with sites at Mirabelle in Canada and Belfast) to the Lauak group in France.

“IT, finance and maintenance functions and now the tubing and systems operations have been offshored leaving workers in Northern Ireland wondering just where next will the axe fall. What’s more workers know that once these skills go they are unlikely to be replaced.”

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Ms Fitzgerald said trade union representatives want to meet with management to discuss the company’s outsourcing policies and to hear what Bombardier’s plans are for “growth” in Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson for Bombardier said the aerospace group was committed to working with its workforce in the North to ensure its Northern Ireland operations long term future.

‘Bombardier is three years into a five-year transformation to increase efficiency across its sites. Consequently, we continue to focus on activities where we can leverage the unique expertise of our highly-skilled workforce to be industry leaders and transfer other activities where we are less competitive to our supply chain. This will help sustain a profitable business, with the aim of securing long-term success.

'We continue to work with our employees and our trade unions on our transformation progress and any discussions with them are confidential. Belfast remains a core Bombardier site for the design, manufacture and integration of complex composite and metallic structures," the spokesperson stated.