BAE wins £446million contract to support Eurofighter jets
Defence giant BAE Systems has received a five year, £446million contract to provide a range of engineering support services for Eurofighter Typhoon jets, an order that will help to sustain around 600 jobs at its Warton and Samlesbury sites.
The contract was described by Unite's Ian Waddell as 'welcome news'. He said: "This will bring some relief to the highly skilled workers at BAE's Warton and Samlesbury sites. They have been under huge pressure after the company announced 3,000 redundancies in military aircraft production last year.
"It demonstrates that governments can provide the clarity of funding which allows companies like BAE Systems to plan effectively and therefore safeguard jobs. Engineers are in desperately short supply and this announcement means these critical staff are assured a secure future with BAE Systems, which is also good news for the UK economy."
Unite said it was seeking clarification on whether or not the announcement would mean that last September's threatened compulsory job losses would now go ahead or not.
Waddell added: "We do not know if this means the threat of compulsory redundancies at Warton and Samlesbury can now be lifted and we're seeking urgent clarification on that from BAE Systems. It would be great news if this meant we could ease some of the uncertainty for workers across Warton, Samlesbury and Brough."
