Union urges PM to act to protect aviation jobs in Belfast
Workers at the Bombardier aircraft manufacturing plant in Belfast are urging Prime Minister Theresa May to use the UK’s ‘special relationship’ with the US to rescue thousands of jobs.
Their union Unite fears jobs will be axed after the US this week announced that import tariffs of 220% on the Canadian manufacturer’s C-Series jets, making it hard for it to compete with rival Boeing for new aircraft orders.
Bombardier employs 4,100 people in Belfast, 1,000 of whom are working on the C-Series jets.
The ruling followed a complaint by Boeing that Bombardier had received state subsidies from both Canada and Northern Ireland to make the jets. State aid is considered illegal.
Unite said Mrs May should personally intervene with Boeing and urged her to get the Canadian government to do the same.
Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said: "The UK government is one of Boeing’s biggest customers, spending billions with the company including orders for Apache helicopters, P8 marine surveillance planes and Chinook helicopters.
"Prime minister Theresa May has talked tough on Boeing, but now needs to personally intervene with the company and use this relationship to make sure fair trade prevails.
"The prime minister cannot be a bystander in all of this and needs to pull every lever to ensure Bombardier jobs are protected from the bullying behaviour of Boeing.
"Soon, a quarter of all UK defence spending will be going to the US – this must give us a voice that should be heard."
Unite said the PM must also ask the US government why the country’s Department for Commerce decided to impose massive tariffs without allowing Bombardier to put its case.
Mrs May has already said that Boeing’s behaviour is undermining its relationship with the UK, but Labour’s international trade spokesman Barry Gardiner has called for her to refer the dispute to the World Trade Organisation.
Unite added: "Time is not on our side. With a World Trade Organisation hearing taking up to three years, Prime Minister Theresa May must act fast, targeting the US government, to preserve the thousands of jobs that depend on Bombardier’s Belfast operation," it said.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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