Staff at Bombardier in Belfast have cancelled their annual Christmas lunch. Traditionally it’s an opportunity for current workers at the aerospace group’s Belfast plant to meet their predecessors, look back on the year and enjoy a happy get-together. But this year nobody is in the mood for celebrating.
Confirmation from the US commerce department on Thursday that it intends to proceed with tariffs of nearly 300 per cent on sales of Bombardier’s C-Series jets in the US extinguished any Christmas cheer around the factory.
Trade union Unite says the Canadian group’s operations in the North are now facing what could be their biggest threat yet to their future.
Around 25 per cent of Bombardier’s 4,000-strong workforce in Belfast is currently employed on the C-Series aircraft programme, according to Davy Thompson, Unite’s regional co-ordinating officer.
It had been predicted that if aircraft sales took off as hoped this could grow to at least 60 per cent of the current workforce, which would map out a clear path for Bombardier’s Belfast operations. But the proposed new US tariffs could make the list price of the C-Series three times more expensive – effectively pricing it out of the US market.
‘America first’ agenda
Mr Thompson believes the commerce department’s ruling was “purely a political decision” in keeping with the Trump administration’s “America first” agenda.
He said confirmation that the US intended to proceed with tariffs was “unwelcome and unhelpful, but not unexpected”, although it was not the final say on the matter as it had yet to be ratified by another American trade body.
“We will have to wait until next February before we find out if the US International Trade Commission will set aside the final determination from the US commerce department, but that is what we will be hoping for and campaigning for.”
Last week a delegation from the Unite union travelled to Canada and Washington to highlight the impact that the proposed tariffs could have on Northern Ireland.
Worried
Businesses on the doorstep of Bombardier’s main plant in Belfast are seeing the immediate effect of the proposed US tariffs even before they are enforced.
East Belfast-based business man Karl Bennett, who is the chair of the Newtownards Road and Inner East Traders Association, said there was a sense that people were worried about spending money because of the threat hanging over jobs in the community.
“Bombardier jobs are great well-paid jobs, and there is certainly a worry that these jobs could go. You have to ask why aren’t any of our politicians jumping on a plane to America to fight for Bombardier here in Belfast. We don’t see Arlene Foster or Michelle O’Neill going over there to use their contacts.
“There is still a degree of hope here that some resolution can be found to this dispute. That’s what we all want to see,” said Mr Bennett.
