The Ulster Unionist Party’s East Belfast MLA, Andy Allen, has described today’s announcement of job losses at Bombardier as a major blow to the local economy.
Andy Allen MLA said:
“Today’s announcement that 490 jobs are to be lost from Bombardier’s Northern Ireland operations is dreadful news for the workers affected, their families and Northern Ireland plc. It is a devastating blow.
“As I have stated before, Bombardier is Northern Ireland’s largest manufacturing employer with approximately 4,000 employees based in and around Belfast, and is an absolutely key component of the local economy. It is difficult to over-estimate the importance of Bombardier to not just East Belfast but the economic well-being of Northern Ireland plc.
“We as a party are committed to working with all stakeholders to avoid such losses and attract new investment. This has been the motivation behind our long-standing commitment to bring forward a meaningful manufacturing strategy.
“It appears these job losses are part of a plan to cut 5,000 jobs worldwide. These are high quality jobs that we simply cannot afford to lose, and it is extremely frustrating that this blow should come at a time when we have no functioning Assembly and Executive. We need political stability here in order to retain the jobs we have and attract new ones, and for that we need certain political parties to get over themselves and get back to work in Stormont.”