![]() |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Volume 50 Number 25, July 4, 2020 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
The Express & Star announced that up to 61,000 jobs have been lost in the West Midlands during lockdown - with thousands more hanging in the balance.
A recent report from the New Economics Foundation, written jointly with the Trades Union Congress, aviation unions and climate action charity Possible, calls on the government to expand its existing coronavirus job retention scheme to include specific help for aviation industry workers. Up to 124,000 jobs in Britain's aviation industry and its supply chains are at risk of disappearing in just three months because of the coronavirus, according to this research, reports The Independent.
Airlines including BA, Ryanair and easyJet have announced thousands of redundancies despite benefitting from huge government backed loans.
Collins Aerospace have announced plans for several hundred redundancies at their plants in Wolverhampton, Birmingham Marston Green and Banbury in Oxfordshire citing significantly reduced demand for commercial aviation products due to the impact of Covid-19. Unite regional co-ordinating officer Andy Taylor said, "The announcement of the job losses at Collins Aerospace is a bitter blow to the West Midlands which simply can't afford to lose this type of well paid, highly skilled job. This announcement is premature. With the jobs retention scheme continuing until October, Collins should reassess its decision until support for the sector from the government is agreed."
Unite has put forward a number of demands:
Meanwhile Dunlop Aircraft Tyres in Erdington, Birmingham have announced a redundancy consultation, proposing up to 200 job losses, nearly half of the total workforce. Again the employer cites the impact of Covid-19. Their chief executive, Gordon Roper, said they could not afford the current level of staffing while the airline industry was being so dramatically hit by the lockdown.
GMB Organiser Rebecca Mitchell said: "We're incredibly disappointed to see proposed job cuts at Dunlop. We've arranged emergency talks with the company this Friday and will be in a better position to respond to the proposals after this. Whatever happens, we will continue to fight for our members' jobs."