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Rolls-Royce to cut 400 Midlands jobs

Nearly 400 jobs are under threat at Rolls-Royce according to trade union, Unite, after “short-sighted” government defence cuts.

The union said the automobile giant’s biggest casualty will be at its Coventry plant in Antsy, where 378 jobs will be lost.

Ian Waddell, Unite’s national officer for aerospace and shipbuilding, commented: “The blame for the loss of these highly skilled jobs in the key defence sector lies with the government and its short-sighted determination to ram through massive spending cuts in the defence budget.

“Once again, Unite calls for a coherent defence industrial strategy to be drawn up as matter of urgency to safeguard jobs and a defence industry at which Britain excels. This is vital - otherwise more high-skilled jobs will be lost, perhaps forever.

“There is a very long timescale for consultation and implementation, so we hope that compulsory redundancies will be avoided.

“However, the underlying reason for the job losses is the government’s defence spending cuts announced a couple of years ago.

“The scrapping of the Harrier fleet, for instance, has led to redundancies at the Ansty factory, which will close. Meanwhile, work from Germany will be transferred to Rolls-Royce’s site at Bristol.

“Unite will be seeking an early meeting with management to discuss the implications for our members and we will taking every step to safeguard their employment now and in the future.”

Rolls-Royce confirmed the announcement and commented: “We are in consultation with trade unions over reductions in our defence workforce at Ansty.

“We hope to achieve this without compulsory redundancies. Ansty also conducts Civil Aerospace business which is not affected. In a large and complex company there is a continuing need to align resource and customer demand. Overall Group employment at Rolls-Royce remains fairly constant. “

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .