Rob Roberts Member of Parliament for Delyn comments on Airbus plans to furlough 3,200 employees of at its site in Broughton.

Airbus employs some 135,000 people worldwide, with more than 6,000 in Broughton. The company confirmed yesterday that they have agreed with the trade unions to apply for the Government Job Retention Scheme for some employees at the North Wales plant.

A spokesperson for Airbus has said:

“Airbus confirms it has agreed with its social partners to apply the Government’s job retention scheme for approximately 3,200 production and production-support employees at its commercial aircraft site in Broughton.”

The purpose of the furlough scheme is to ease pressures on businesses during this crisis as the biggest expense is often the salary bill, so that when this unprecedented period of time has passed, businesses will be better equipped to return to being a cornerstone of economic activity in our region.

Mr Roberts said:

“My thoughts are with the thousands of affected Airbus employees and I recognise that it will be challenging for them their families during this period. However, through Airbus taking the actions they have it is clear that this decision will ultimately protect more jobs in the long term as we come out of this health crisis and they get back up to full production again which I hope won’t be too far in the future.”