Workers at Shorts go on all-out strike

Workers belonging to the two main unions at Shorts in Belfast have downed tools and walked out this morning as the threatened strike by Amicus and TGWU members became a reality.

According to the union sources the action by around 4,500 employees, the majority of the workforce, is the result of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions, and a protest at recent jobs cuts at the aerospace manufacturing plant.

The workers at Shorts voted to reject a pay offer in August this year and talks earlier this month collapsed without agreement being reached on a four-year pay deal proposed by management.

A narrow vote to reject the deal appears to belie the gulf that exists between the management and unions in Belfast.

The two sides have interpreted a letter sent to the unions by Shorts' management, purported to be seeking a meeting, very differently.

Union representatives say that they are angered by the company's attitude to the dispute and said that there is no venue, date or time in the letter and that the industrial action has been taken to impress on the management that the workers are serious on their stance over pay.

However, a spokesperson for Shorts said that talks must be recommenced to find a solution to the problem and the industrial action taken would not help resolve the situation.

Bombardier the Canadian parent company has been seeking long-term pay concessions as the sector continues to be badly affected by the slump in the aerospace industry.

The recent round of proposals by management are understood to have included a change in working patterns, introducing an afternoon shift that would have led to the loss of a more lucrative night-time shift.

Although Shorts announced that a further 580 workers would be axed within months, this was recently reduced to around 100. But management in Belfast have warned that if a deal is not reached on pay and conditions soon, more redundancies will have to be implemented.

(SP)