Rolls Royce announce 2,600 job losses
Engineering group Rolls-Royce has said it is planning to cut 2,600 jobs over the next 18 months.
It said most of the jobs would go in its aerospace division, with most of the posts being shed in 2015.
Labour’s candidate for Sherwood, Léonie Mathers said she had received assurances from the company that the job losses will not hit the Hucknall site.
She said: “This is good news, but until they set out a long term plan for Rolls Royce in Hucknall, I’ll be keeping up the pressure.
“This Government keep promising an economic recovery, now it’s time for them to pull their finger out and back decent well-paid jobs in British companies like Rolls Royce.”
It is not clear where the cuts will be made from Rolls-Royce’s global workforce of 55,000, 24,000 of whom are in the UK.
However, the Unite union said there would be 800-1200 engineering jobs cut in Derby and Bristol.
The company’s chief executive John Rishton said: “The measures announced today will not be the last, however they will contribute towards Rolls-Royce becoming a stronger and more profitable company.”
Last month, Rolls warned that its underlying revenues for 2014 would be 3.5-to-4 per cent lower than expected.
Unite’s national officer Ian Waddell said: “Rolls-Royce is in danger of making decisions in the short term that it will later regret. This is a bitter blow to a proud workforce and we will be doing everything we can to fight for jobs and skills.”
The company said voluntary redundancy would be offered, although it could not rule out compulsory redundancies.