Jobs under threat at Barnoldswick Rolls-Royce plant

1:50pm Thursday 20th November 2008

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JOBS at the Rolls-Royce aerospace factory in Barnoldswick are under threat after it was announced bosses were looking to shed 2,000 staff across the company.

Rolls-Royce said today’s announcement was down to fears over a downturn in demand for its aircraft in the current economic climate.

Around 1,000 people are employed at its Barnoldswick site and the company said it was looking to make the cuts from across it 39,000 employees worldwide.

Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls Royce, said: “We are determined to maintain our focus on cost reduction and competitiveness as the world economy enters a challenging period. "It is too early to determine the precise effects of the global economic downturn and programme delays.

“However, we wanted to give all our employees an early indication of the likely scale of the job reductions we expect in 2009.”

Rolls-Royce also announced that it was consulting employees about a proposed reduction of 140 jobs at its assembly and test facility in Derby, which is part of the group’s civil aerospace business.

Rolls-Royce said it has been reviewing the possible impact of the current economic climate for some time in a bid to make the company more efficient.

It is not clear which factories will bear the brunt of the job cuts throughout next year.

The company said it would enter into detailed consultations with the relevant sites when it knew more about the true extent of the job cuts.

It said it was possible that some areas would feel little or no impact.

Craven ward Coun Martin Bell, said he hoped the Barnoldswick site was not affected.

He added: “Rolls Royce is the life blood of Barnoldswick.

"It’s extremely vital that the site remains operable.

"Any threat to jobs would have serious implications in the town for people who work there.

"It’s essential that we safeguard against any job cuts.”