ENGINEERING giant Rolls-Royce has confirmed that almost 400 workers at its Inchinnan factory have taken voluntary redundancy.
The firm announced plans to axe 700 members of its Renfrewshire workforce in June following the collapse of orders due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A Rolls-Royce spokesperson told The Gazette: “We are taking steps to resize our Civil Aerospace business to adapt to lower medium-term demand from customers and help secure our future.
“Sadly, we will lose people who have helped us become the company we are and who have been proud to work for Rolls-Royce.
“At our Inchinnan facility, over 370 people have now left our site through our voluntary severance scheme but, regrettably, there will be a need for compulsory redundancies.
“We will look at redeployment and relocation opportunities for employees who are affected, as well as providing support for future employment, and we understand this continues to be an incredibly difficult time for our people in Inchinnan.”
Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Gavin Newlands told The Gazette that long-standing employees at the Inchinnan site have been on the receiving end of “shocking” treatment by Rolls-Royce management.
He added: “There must be no doubt that the decision to close MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) operations at Inchinnan is not only an appalling way to treat a workforce but is a business decision they will likely come to regret, given the world-leading, world-class output from Inchinnan.
“The redundancies at Inchinnan throw into sharp focus the complete lack of a plan of action from the UK Government for our aviation and aerospace industries.
“Renfrewshire is being hammered by job losses in these sectors and yet we have seen nothing from Boris Johnson or his ministers that even looks like a plan.
“I am deeply worried that the job losses will continue if the Chancellor doesn’t get his finger out and do something. He can come up with all the schemes for half-price dinners he wants – hundreds of my constituents are now out of work and are just trying to put food on the table.”
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