17/02/2016 BBC Newsline


17/02/2016

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including a first look at tomorrow's papers. Here, on BBC

:00:00.3:59:59

Hello and welcome to BBC Newsline. papers. Here, on BBC One, it's now

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Up to 1,000 jobs are going over the next two years at Bombardier.

:00:07.:00:09.

Half the posts will be lost this year.

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The company has struggled to get orders for its new C Series planes.

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Our business correspondent Julian O'Neill is outside Bombardier

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Bombardier posted losses of $5 billion for 2015. Its financial

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problems have been well chronicled in recent months but today there

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were consequences for its global workforce including here in Belfast.

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Uncertainty has hung over the workforce for many months

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as a financial storm cloud moved in from Canada.

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Bombardier is going to spread these job losses across a period

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580 posts will go this year with the potential for the same

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Delays and cost overruns on the new passenger plane has taken

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Savings have had to be found and jobs are now set to go just

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weeks after a pay offer was rejected.

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We knew it was going to happen but we didn't think it

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I hope I'm employed next year but I'm 62 so it will affect

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We knew it was going to happen but we didn't think it

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The concerns for the future and their children. Massive closures in

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the the North West and infant manner we've job losses. It's time that the

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executive stood up and be real about what we do in the future.

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The permanent staff are concentrated in east Belfast but others are based

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in Don Murray, new scenario and Newton arts. These Belfast is dealt

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with in one of those before and some felt the pain of the workforce.

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We may need to bring jobs into east Belfast.

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Bombardier has had huge historic levels of government financial

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support and the executive believes its importance

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to the economy is not diminished by today's announcement.

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I've been with the senior management on five occasions and we know it has

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been confirmed that the long-term future of the Belfast

:03:12.:03:14.

The company had billed 2016 as a year of transition.

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After months of speculation, its turnaround strategy is now known

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to involve what was feared - large-scale job losses.

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The root cause of the problems has been its troubled sea series

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passenger jet project. It is a project which has taken the company

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right to the very brink, necessitating a huge bailout from

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the provincial government in Colback. My colleague now looks

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behind today's job losses at the problem.

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The C Series is Bombardier's dream of the future.

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Cutting-edge technology, great fuel efficiency and the best

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Its aim - to take on the giants of Boeing and Airbus

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The Belfast wing factory was officially opened

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by the Prime Minister a decade later.

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Developing a new plane is a time-consuming

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The C Series has been beset by cost overruns and delays.

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It was originally due to enter service in 2013,

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it should finally be flying commercially this year.

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It started out with a development budget of $3.4 billion.

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It is also entering a fiercely competitive market.

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Boeing and Airbus have tweaked their models and slashed

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prices, as a result sales of the C Series have been slow.

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The launch target was 300 orders but only 243 have been booked,

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all of this has weakened the entire Bombardier company.

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They took an enormous risk, they're well out of their comfort

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zone, they have produced a good aeroplane but it is coming

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in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

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All of the major international airlines went on a spending spree

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for new aircraft last year and thousands of new aircraft

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were booked by both Boeing and Airbus.

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The C Series didn't join in that party.

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The state government in Quebec has effectively given the C Series

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a $1 billion bailout and more public money could follow.

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It's not forecast to turn a profit until 2020 at the earliest.

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The company needs to cut costs and conserve cash.

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That's what today's job losses are about.

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Today of all days, a glimmer of hope.

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There was some better news for Bombardier today when Air Canada

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signed what's call a letter of intent to buy a number

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The type of news this company needs going forward and were not talking

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about the survival of jobs here at Bombardier. We also talking about a

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supply chain. As many as 3000 other jobs in smaller aerospace companies

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throughout Northern Ireland who supply this company with parts, they

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have a vested interest in the survival and the prosperity of this

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company as does the Northern Ireland economy for this is one of our most

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important manufacturing companies. But Bombardier needs a lot more

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orders like this. The head of Bombardier locally,

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Michael Ryan, told our Business and Economics Editor John Campbell

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why today's move was necessary. Bombardier announced

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today their year end results which if you look at it was close

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to a $5 billion loss. They also announced some good news

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on the sales of the C Series but fundamentally the sustainability

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of the company needs to be addressed because it is not possible

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to continue, and part of that is a transformation

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which is underway and part of that transformation is optimising

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the workforce and that is at When we look at the aerospace side

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in Belfast, it's the single largest what kind of assurances can you give

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that the long-term future of this The global aerospace world

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is looking at optimising and it was going to what we call

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lower cost countries and if we want to compete

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in a global marketplace we need I have to say the technologies

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we are investing in, the value-added processes,

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the programmes we're looking at, are a key part of Belfast's future

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and will continue to be. If I read that correctly,

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you are saying the high-value work around wings, composites,

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that will stay in Belfast, some of the more basic processes,

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there's every chance that work will have to go to

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lower cost locations. We have factories in Mexico

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and Morocco and we have a world-class supply chain

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and that is based Earlier, I spoke to the Canadian

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Broadcasting Corporation's business He told me the jobs losses

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at Bombardier here were making Even though we have the headquarters

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here, you do a lot of the assembly, the important and core work,

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and we as a country as well are concerned about that

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and that is why the government has been funding a lot of money

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into Bombardier to make sure it stays in Canada with those high-tech

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jobs, not just important here but in Northern Ireland

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as well, so we share similarities as far as the concern of the health

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of Bombardier going forward. 2,000 jobs to be slashed

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in the Montreal office. This is as part of the 7,000

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job loss announcement. What is interesting

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is in the C Series division they are saying no jobs will be cut,

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they'll be increasing that division, but head office jobs

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are losing the lion's share, but rail jobs are losing

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the lion's share, 3,200 jobs, so we are

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affected here as well. Is the view in Canada that people

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should be happy to keep the jobs there and not worry so much

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about the jobs elsewhere, We have an affinity

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with Northern Ireland but people in Montreal,

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where the company is based, would be concerned about keeping it

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in Montreal and there are 34,000 jobs reliant on Bombardier staying

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in Quebec so I wouldn't say we're dismissive of Northern Ireland

:09:39.:09:43.

but we are sharing the pain. What do you think the long-term

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prognosis is? This is where it gets tricky

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because they are in a negative cash flow position, this has cost them

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$5.5 billion to get 2 billion in over-costs and what it

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comes down to is this single-aisle It goes directly against Boeing

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and Airbus and those are very large-pocketed companies

:10:01.:10:04.

and there is concern with analysts saying they have taken a bit off

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more than they can chew? Does it have the resources to be

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able to go up against those competitors or are we going to be

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in a spiral of continuing The First Minister Arlene Foster has

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attended a Church of Ireland event in Dublin this evening to mark

:10:16.:10:21.

the centenary of the Easter Rising. A smile and a handshake between the

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First Minister and the teacher. They came face-to-face at Christchurch

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Cathedral in Dublin at a church of Ireland events debating the 1916

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rising. There was only last month and Kenny expressed his

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disappointment after Arlene Foster said she would not attend any

:10:50.:10:53.

centenary commemorations of the very violent Irish rebellion. The DUP

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leader said people needed to understand the Unionist position.

:10:59.:11:02.

One of the things I think that concerns people in Northern Ireland

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about what happened there are 100 years ago at Easter is the fact that

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it was used then in the 70s and 80s to justify what happened in Northern

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Ireland at that time and I think a difficult thing for unionists to

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come to terms with and is something people here in the Republic have two

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reflect on as well. Enter Kenny took time out from the campaign ahead of

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next week 's general election to attend the debate. The nice

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presentation included contributions from leading historians across

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Ireland and focused on the ordinary people in extraordinary

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circumstances in Dublin in 1916. The First Minister says this is the type

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of event that she was always happy to attend. A conversation, not a

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celebration. Police things brightened up today.

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After this morning 's rain sleet and snow but still a distinct chill in

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the air and with the clear skills were lingering into the night we

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will get a widespread frost the voting. Temperatures drop to

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freezing leaving to of reading greaves below. Showers in the North

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and West with rain, sleet and snow and it will become quite icy so the

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Met office has a warning in place through the night and into tomorrow

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morning. There could be some minor disruption, quite slippery and an

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untreated roads and pavements. Take extra care. Tomorrow, not a bad day

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again for many. Sunshine again, good dry spells around. Wintry showers in

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the forecast and those could be a mix of sleet and snow in places in

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the morning in the north and west. Away from there, spans of sunshine.

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Wintry showers in the West. In the opposite corner, it could be quite a

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wet and sleet start. Cloud to the course the day but some very decent

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spells wintry sunshine. Again, that chill hanging in the air. That is

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what we have tomorrow. And more breeze tomorrow, one or two showers,

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hill snow, rain and sleet to low levels in the afternoon. Mainly in

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the north and west, not too many in the east. Temperatures of 6 degrees.

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On Friday, the next Atlantic weather system is in. That has the effect of

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bringing the temperatures are up but bringing spells of rain and more of

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a breeze.

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