38 MANUFACTURING
ACTION CALL IN FIGHT FOR ROLLS JOBS
In November 1945, as Britain still celebrated Allied victory over Japan, jet engines built in Barnoldswick set a new world speed record.
Moving ahead 75 years and November 2020 saw yet another body blow for workers at the Rolls- Royce plant in the town as they faced defeat in their battle to prevent jobs going overseas.
Just eight days after Boris Johnson said his government was “on it” after being quizzed about Rolls-Royce’s move to offshore work from Barnoldswick to Singapore, the company revealed it was switching more production to Spain.
The move would mean another 140 job losses at Barnoldswick, on top of 350 affected in the summer of 2020 by the Far East move. Union leaders say the flagship British company’s decisions have put the future of the historic jet engine plant in doubt.
In his reply to a question about the Singapore move, the Prime Minister told MPs: “We are keen to work with Rolls-Royce to ensure that that company has a long-term future as a great, great British company.” He added the government “are on it.”
Unions seized on that statement in the wake of the Spanish bombshell. Unite’s regional officer Ross Quinn said: “Just days after that we were told more jobs are to leave Barnoldswick and the UK, this time for Europe. He can say he’s ‘on it’, what is he actually doing?”
The latest announcement followed the company’s review of its civil aerospace operations, which have been badly hit by the
Covid-19 pandemic. It says the job losses are part of the 9,000 globally that it revealed in its restructuring in May.
As well as transferring jet fan blade work to Singapore, the manufacture of aero-engine structures will now move from east Lancashire to a facility in Spain.
Unions describe it as “death by a thousand cuts” for Barnoldswick, which has a proud 70- year history and where in 1943 Frank Whittle’s engines for the RAF’s first jet fighters were developed and built.
Rolls-Royce says Barnoldswick has a future as a product development and technical support centre and it will continue to manufacture blades for “a range” of defence and civil aerospace applications.
Announcing the restructure, Chris Cholerton, the company’s head of civil aerospace, said: “The pandemic has created a once-in-a-generation shock to the whole of commercial aviation and it is going to take years to recover.”
He added: By completing the restructuring of our civil aerospace business we can emerge as a stronger, more efficient and sustainable business.”
He went on: “I understand that the announcement will be hugely upsetting for our colleagues in Barnoldswick.
“This is a very difficult proposal to make, but we cannot afford to retain every Rolls-Royce factory that was supported by demand that has been dramatically reduced by the pandemic.
“No government support scheme can replace sustainable customer demand and no government can sign-up to extending the sort of short-term measures we have been very grateful for, over multiple years.”
In November Lancashire workers embarked on a series of strikes over the transferring of work to Singapore in what has been dubbed locally “The battle for Barnoldswick”.
They vowed to continue the fight, despite Rolls- Royce’s response to their action, which was to shut the factory early for Christmas, furlough workers and transfer work immediately to Japan, Singapore and Spain.
The company said those moves were being made on safety grounds and to protect its customers. It added it would not be claiming furlough money back from the government.
David Whipp, who is also deputy leader of Pendle Council, has called the situation in Barnoldswick “an unfolding tragedy”.
The job losses will have a massive impact, he warned, not just in Barnoldswick but across the whole North West.
The Spanish announcement also came days after Pendle’s Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson, who is also a government transport minister, met with Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East to put the case for Barnoldswick.
The MP has said he believes the company is “hell bent” on an offshoring strategy it is not able to justify and says the way the workers are being treated is “shameful”.
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