BAE confirms it will cut 600 jobs

BAE confirms it will cut 600 jobs
Hawk jets

Defence company BAE has confirmed it will cut almost 600 jobs at its Brough site, near Hull and its Woodford plant near Manchester.

A failure to win new orders is thought to be behind the move, which will see almost a quarter of the 2,000 staff at Brough lose their jobs.

Engineers will be most affected, but staff in support and manufacturing at Brough will also be affected.

Union officials said they would resist compulsory redundancies.

The Brough facility is the home of the Hawk trainer jet, while Woodford is where the Nimrod surveillance aircraft is made.

About 134 job cuts are planned at the Woodford operation, near Manchester, with 450 job losses expected at Brough.

BAE is Hull's biggest employer and the cuts will be a blow to the local economy.

Uncertain future

"Only a few days ago, the Red Arrows had the Hawks on display to celebrate the RAF's 90th anniversary," said Unite national officer Bernie Hamilton.

"Sadly, the future for the skilled workers that built these state-of-the-art jets is now uncertain."

He added that the union knew it would have a "challenge on our hands" at both sites as a result of rising competition, but said that the UK government should work to safeguard the country's aerospace industry for future generations.

"The workload for the engineering team makes the current staffing level unsustainable, regrettably resulting in the redundancy announcement," BAE said in a statement.

Woodford site general manager Jim Welsh said: "We recognise that this is a difficult period for all employees and their families and we will continue to do everything practical to mitigate the number of compulsory job losses."