VSEL faced with 3,000 more job cuts
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A FURTHER 3,000 jobs are facing the axe at VSEL, the Trident nuclear submarine builder, because of defence cuts and the depth of the recession.
The fresh wave of job cuts would take the workforce of VSEL, based in Barrow, Cumbria, down to as little as 5,000 compared with 14,000 four years ago.
They follow last week's announcement of 5,000 job losses at the aero-engine maker Rolls- Royce because of declining military and commercial aircraft orders.
VSEL had hoped to stabilise employment at about the present level of just under 8,000.
But it now expects the workforce to shrink to between 5,000 and 6,000 in the longer term, depending on its success in winning fresh military orders and diversifying into the civil market.
The remaining 600 jobs at VSEL's Cammell Laird shipyard on Merseyside will go in July once construction of a Royal Navy replenishment ship and the submarine Unicorn are completed.
The yard will then be closed, leaving only Barrow, with a workforce of under 8,000. But thousands of these jobs are likely to disappear, even if VSEL succeeds in winning a larger share of a diminishing Ministry of Defence order book.
The pounds 3bn Trident programme will keep Barrow busy until the late 1990s. It is also completing a pounds 300m MoD order for AS90 howitzers.
But VSEL, in common with other warship yards, desperately needs new orders to maintain employment at current levels and plan for the remainder of this decade and into the next century.
It is widely assumed that Britain's warship building capacity will contract further this decade. Apart from VSEL, the other naval yards are GEC Yarrow on the Clyde, Vosper Thorneycroft in Portsmouth and Swan Hunter on Tyneside.
VSEL and Swan Hunter, the North-east shipyard, are vying for a pounds 170m order from the MoD for a helicopter landing platform, due to be awarded this autumn. But there are growing doubts whether the MoD will go ahead with the contract.
Meanwhile the ministry is not expected to issue tenders for a further batch of up to three Type 23 frigates until next year whilst its requirement for a new reconnaissance vehicle, the Tracer, to replace the Scorpio, remains vague.
VSEL had calculated defence work would sustain 7,000 jobs - 5,000 on naval programmes and 2,000 on land defence systems - while diversification into civil areas such as engineering and offshore construction would provide a further 2,000 jobs.
But the scale of defence cuts under the MoD's Options for Change strategy and the depth of the recession have made these projections too optimistic.
VSEL is hopeful of winning export orders for the AS90 howitzer from Kuwait and India.
(Photograph omitted)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments