Unite sets up hardship fund for Bombardier workers

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Unite the union has set-up a hardship fund for Bombardier workers being made redundant ‘because of the Government’s decision not to award the company the Thameslink contract’.

Over ‘600 agency workers have lost their jobs’. The workers, ‘many of whom had been at Bombardier for years’, began leaving the company in October.

Many will receive little or no redundancy money, and with over 180,000 people already unemployed in the East Midlands, many will struggle to find alternative work, Unite said.

The former workers will be able to apply for support from the union’s regional office in the East Midlands and applications will be judged by a panel which includes Unite’s lead representative at Bombardier.

All those requesting help from the Bombardier hardship fund must have worked at Bombardier in the previous 12 months and have been affected by redundancy or termination of agency contracts due to the job losses.

Unite’s assistant general secretary, Diana Holland, said:

“Behind the government’s disastrous decision over Bombardier lies a human tragedy. Hundreds of agency workers with little or no rights to redundancy pay face a bleak Christmas and New Year.

“We believe that there were special circumstances which meant these agency workers should be able to get some modest financial support if they need it.

“The union has a process in place to allow these workers to apply for help from Unite’s East Midlands region.

“With unemployment at a 17 year high, the Tory-led government has shown complete contempt for Britain’s hard-working families.

“Even after all the evidence presented on why Bombardier needs to be supported, this government still seems intent on stacking the odds against its survival.”

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