The Manufacturing Industry in Northern Ireland is expected to lose as many as 500 jobs from two prominent companies. This news has come following redundancy announcements that have been made by the well-known companies on the same day.

The companies involved in this news are Bombardier and Schlumberger. Bombardier has confirmed that they will have to cut around 280 jobs from their site in east Belfast, with over 220 jobs predicted to go from the oil and gas supply, Schlumberger, who has announced the close of their Newtownabbey plant.

The aerospace manufacturing company, Bombardier has recently released a company statement that has stated that the company will adding these further job cuts in east Belfast to the 7,500 job cuts that were announced in October by the company. Bombardier has said that they will continue to review their manpower requirements in Belfast, and because of this have had to cut down their workforce levels in this area.

The most recent job losses are another hit for the manufacturing company after the significant cuts that have already been announced. The latest announcement has come a month following plans to make 95 Irish redundancies after the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus acquired a majority stake in Bombardier’s C-Series aircraft programme, which has worked to relieve some of the pressure on the 1,000 workers at Queen’s Island who work to manufacture the wings.

Schlumberger has had a base in Northern Ireland for more than 60 years, however it has been announced by the trade union Unite that the management has taken the decision to close the Newtownabbey Site. It has been commented on by representatives at the trade union that the company’s global corporate management are wanting to downturn in the oil and gas sector in order to cover up their work to outsource jobs to low-cost alternative locations.

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