Bombardier Bruges meets with politicians over job losses

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois and education minister Hilde Crevits met this week with union representatives and federal ministers Kris Peeters (work) and François Bellot (mobility). The parties said they were looking for a “Plan B” for the factory, to ensure a sustainable future with the maximum retention of jobs.

Bombardier, a Canadian company, said it intends to turn its Bruges facility into a unit specialised in finish work and testing. Unions said they welcomed the change and that staff were willing to be retrained. But they stressed that the change could only work if there were enough orders.

At present the company appeared to be heading for “less work and less manpower,” according to ACV union representative Steven Bogaert. “But we know it is possible to bring extra work to Bruges.”

The government of Flanders is prepared to support the retraining of workers, Bourgeois said. “One of the reasons for the restructuring is the difference in labour costs between France and Belgium,” he said. “That’s what’s bitter about it. It’s not as if they’re moving production to India or south-east Asia. We have brilliantly trained people and high productivity right here.”

The federal government, meanwhile, is prepared to use a contract with NMBS for rolling stock as a bargaining chip. Nothing in the contract says that the trains have to be built in Bruges, but it does include conditions on quality and delivery times, and the company has already had difficulty on the latter point.

Photo courtesy De Standaard