With 500 contractor staff at Airbus Broughton at risk of losing their jobs as production is slashed due to Covid-19, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has raised their plight with the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates MS.
The 500 Guidant Global employees based at the Broughton wing factory were served with an at-risk-of-redundancy notice last week because of the pandemic.
Mr Isherwood was contacted by one of the Guidant Global employees, who told him that the majority of their 500 workforce have worked at Airbus for up to ten years and “have played a massive role in their success, doing the same job as Airbus core employees, but without bonuses or sick pay”.
The employee told Mr Isherwood that around the same time that they found out they were at risk of redundancy, “all airbus core employees, who are not at risk of redundancy, received their yearly 3,600 euro bonus”.
Raising the matter in this week’s virtual Plenary meeting, Mr Isherwood said:
“How do you respond to the permanent employee of Guidant Global, which contracts to Airbus at their Broughton site, where their 500 workforce were furloughed and served with an ‘at risk of redundancy’ notice on 28th April, who has asked for help? “
The Minister replied: “In terms of the aero sector, the aero sector and a number of businesses in north-east Wales, like Airbus, are suffering from a significant drop in demand and therefore some businesses, some have issued at-risk notices. But it's not just the aero industry that have done this - there are businesses within the food and drink sector, such as KK Fine Foods, which have done the same, and they've done it, in part, because of the general uncertainty within the economy, but also because of a lack of certainty over the future of the furlough scheme.”
Mr Isherwood added: “the Guidant Global employee told me that he and his colleagues are worried about their future and how they are going to support their families and, commenting on the Minister’s response, he stated that Mr. Skates ‘simply side stepped the question and offered no answers or support’.
