Over the past few years, austerity measures and consumer cutbacks have made life difficult for many businesses across the UK. With firms buckling under the financial pressure of surviving through almost four years of recession employers and employees alike will be understandably concerned about should the economy take a further turn for the worse.
Unfortunately for the employees at Rolls Royce’s Ansty site in the West Midlands, the Government’s severe cutbacks have meant that 378 workers will soon face redundancy, with the remaining 400-plus possibly following within the next few years.
Around 800 workers are currently employed at the Ansty commercial property, which lies only six miles to the east of Coventry. The 200 acre site mainly deals with repair work on both aeroplane and marine vessel engines although a more commercial line of civil aviation engines are also manufactured on the premises.
It is largely thanks to the Ministry of Defence’s cutbacks that Rolls Royce finds itself in the position of firing almost half of its workforce in Ansty, as a slashing of the defence budget has lessened the need for skilled workers in the manufacturing industry.
Unite officer for aerospace and shipbuilding, Ian Waddell, laid the blame for this latest mass loss of jobs squarely at the Government’s feet, claiming that the cuts to the defence budget were “short sighted” and threatened a key British industry. However, he also praised Rolls Royce for acting “fairly” over the matter, as staff members were informed of the intended cuts well in advance via an internal memo.
Mr Waddell, speaking on behalf of Unite, said; “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 a 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.
“Unite will be seeking an early meeting with management to discuss the implications for our members and we will be taking every step to safeguard their employment now and in the future.”
The decision to cut back defence staff at the Ansty plant is believed to be the result of an internal report examining the aviation businesses owned by the company in both Coventry and Bristol.
Yet Unite believes that Rolls Royce plans to cease operations at the plant entirely over the next few years, again as a result of cuts to the defence budget. This means that more than 800 workers could stand to lose their jobs altogether.
In a statement to the press, a spokesman for Rolls Royce said; “We are in consultation with trade unions over reductions in our defence work at Ansty.
“We hope to achieve this without compulsory redundancies.”
It seems, then, that the austerity measures being enforced throughout the country by the Government are truly beginning to bite, with cuts to the private sector only bringing further woes to workers attempting to retain their employment. And with almost one thousand skilled workers possibly joining the Job Centre queues in the next few years, they at least must be asking themselves whether austerity is really the way to bring Britain back into economic security.
Do you think austerity measures such as cutting the defence budget will allow Britain to get back on its feet economically, or is making skilled workers unemployed more likely to send us back in the opposite direction? Should Rolls Royce be doing more to save the livelihoods of its staff members despite the cuts, or do you believe that the full blame for any job losses incurred should be put squarely on the shoulders of the UK Government?
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