UNION leaders have voiced concern following the announcement of job cuts at defence electronics firm Selex Galileo in Luton.
The company announced yesterday that it would be making 150 manufacturing, engineering and support staff redundant across its Capability Green, Basildon and Parc Aberporth sites.
It blamed “decreasing defence budgets, loss of and delays in major programmes and the continuing challenges facing the business”.
Managing director Norman Bone said: “This has been a difficult decision. However, it was felt necessary to take appropriate action to address some of the difficulties facing our business and to ensure that we maintain an affordable and efficient cost base to remain competitive in the future.”
The Unite union said it was concerned the redundancies at the three sites would be treated separately, meaning a shorter consultation period with workers.
Ian Waddell, the union’s national officer for aerospace and shipbuilding, said: “This news will come as a body blow for our members at Selex Galileo. It is a shock for us all as there was no warning of these redundancies.
“Under UK laws which are among the weakest in Europe, Selex only have to consult for 30 days when there are fewer than 100 redundancies at a site. If they treated this as one exercise it would buy us another 60 days to avoid compulsory job losses, valuable days which could be spent trying to find alternative work for our members.”
He also criticised the government, saying: “Highly-skilled, well-paid jobs are being lost because the government is squeezing the MoD budget at the same time as it refuses to buy British.
“No other government offers such an open defence market. It’s time the UK government defended our UK industry and the jobs that go with it.”