75 Rolls-Royce jobs at risk in Rotherham due to pandemic
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The company says it is working with trade union Unite to reduce the losses through voluntary severance or redeployment. The next nearest Rolls site is in Derby.
Unite rep Dean Burgin said no job losses were acceptable but they were ‘staring down the barrel’ of significant numbers. The Advanced Blade Casting Facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham employs 200.
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Hide AdSome 99 jobs were saved last summer when the union fought for staff to go on furlough, Mr Burgin said. But this time it was different. It is understood workers will leave in April.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow. We had to fight for furlough and we’ve taken a cut in wages. Any loss is a big loss.
“This factory was set up on an Enterprise Zone site on the former Orgreave Coking Works. It was so people like me didn’t have to jump in a van and travel around chasing work. Now we are looking down the barrel of significant job losses. It’s a bitter pill to swallow. These are highly skilled manufacturing jobs, there aren’t a lot out there.”
A Rolls-Royce spokeswoman said the unprecedented impact of the pandemic had led to weaker demand from customers. In May last year the firm announced it would cut its global workforce by at least 9,000 roles, some 8,000 in the civil aerospace. In November, it said about 420 shop floor roles in civil aerospace would go.
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Hide AdShe added: “We recently gave our local impacted teams a breakdown of the around 420 roles, which includes a proposed reduction of 75 at our site in Rotherham. We also re-opened Voluntary Severance to employees across the majority of our civil aerospace UK sites.
“We have been working closely with the trade union to mitigate roles through voluntary severance and redeployment since the beginning of our restructuring activity, and will continue to do so following this latest announcement.
“This news will understandably be very worrying for our employees in Rotherham and our number one priority is to provide support to them and their families.”