100 job losses likely at Rolls-Royce factory in Rotherham

The company says 300 work at its fan blade casting facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park, which is currently operating at a reduced rate.

Voluntary severance is open to all of its Civil Aerospace workforce, which includes Rotherham, and the likely impact is 3,000 roles this year.

Last month the company said it planned to shed 9,000 jobs worldwide due to the pandemic.

It said job losses from its workforce of 52,000 form part of a ‘major reorganisation’ of the business in response to a drop in demand.

A Rolls-Royce spokeswoman said: “Following constructive talks with trade union and employee representatives, we have opened Voluntary Severance to all Civil Aerospace employees in the UK.

“Offering Voluntary Severance is an important step as we resize our business to adapt to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry. Because of the unprecedented impact of the crisis on our Civil Aerospace business, we will unfortunately lose people who have worked hard to establish our world-leading position.”

Last month the Unite union urged Rolls to ‘step back from the brink’ of axeing 9,000 staff and work with unions to save jobs.

Unite said the firm had accepted public money to furlough thousands of workers and taxpayers deserved ‘a more responsible approach to a national emergency’.

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