Talks are under way today between management and unions at Belfast aerospace company Shorts after the company announced it needed to cut over 460 workers.
Both sides said they were anxious to try to reduce the number of job losses as much as possible.
They will look at bringing back sub-contracted work to the plant and reallocating and retraining workers for other jobs in the company.
Talks between management and unions will continue over a 90-day consultation period. In early December will it become clear how many of the workers will lose their jobs.
Shorts announced yesterday that 461 workers would be "surplus to requirements" for 2003. "We are going through a difficult period but by taking all steps necessary to protect our competitiveness we can be ready for the upturn in the market when it comes," it said.
But Mr Walker Wilson, secretary of the trade union committee representing all unions at the company, said: "To remove the skills base would be disastrous for the future because there will be a recovery in the industry and we need that labour in place to pick that up when the upturn comes".
Shorts, part of the Canadian Bombardier aircraft company, employs 6,600 in aircraft design and production in Belfast.
It has blamed the downturn in the global aircraft business post-September 11th for the latest cuts. Last year, it warned that up to 2,000 jobs could go but has kept the figure substantially below that so far.