Trade union Unite has confirmed Ballymena bus manufacturer Wrightbus has entered administration, with a large number of redundancies feared.

The union’s regional secretary Jackie Pollock confirmed the news at a press conference on Wednesday morning and has called on the UK government to intervene and save the firm.

Directors at the maker of the so-called ‘Boris bus’ had been in talks with companies including Chinese giant Weichai and entrepreneur Jo Bamford – whose family owns equipment giant JCB – about a sale.

But talks broke down last week, with the amount of rent to be paid on the company’s premises believed to be a stumbling block.

Mr Pollock believes Prime Minister Boris Johnson must now step in to save 1,400 jobs at Wrightbus, following assurances he gave just three months ago.

“This is a workforce at the cutting edge of technological advancements in the design and supply of green public transport, we cannot afford to lose any more jobs or skills in this area, this is now a crisis and with MLA’s abdicating their responsibilities and the ongoing stagnation at Stormont the Prime Minister now needs to step in,” he said.

“Ultimately if a solution based on a new buyer isn’t found immediately the Government must intervene to save jobs and skills, just three months ago Boris Johnson gave assurances that he ‘will do everything we can to ensure the future of that great UK company’, he has a chance today to do something decent.”

Susan Fitzgerald, regional co-ordinating officer at Unite, said bus company buyers would be “licking their lips”.

She said Wrightbus was producing socially-necessary products used by public transport providers in Belfast and Dublin, and it should be given help by the Government.

She added: “They need to be produced and why should be produced for profit? Boris Johnson has a hobby making buses out of wooden crates.”

She said he needed to stop his hobby and work to save the Ballymena jobs.

Wrightbus, which was co-founded by Sir William Wright, has faced trading difficulties after a downturn in demand for its products.

It is thought to need a cash injection of around £30m (€34m) to stay in business. The company last night said it had no update on the situation.

Unite Regional Officer George Brash, who will address workers and meet senior management today, said that there is is a company “desperate” to takeover Wrightbus, but “it shouldn’t be done at the expense of jobs and contractual terms”.

“I will be insisting on a meeting with the administrator today and arguing that for those who wish to stay their contracts should be honoured while a new buyer comes forward,” he added.

As well as 1,400 staff potentially losing their jobs – which would make Wrightbus one of Northern Ireland’s biggest corporate casualties of the last 10 years – dozens of suppliers in the Co Antrim area will be hit by the company’s insolvency, causing a potentially massive ripple effect of further job losses, up 3,500 in total.

The potential loss of jobs will be a major setback for Ballymena, which has lost two other major employers, JTI Gallaher’s and Michelin, in recent years.

Sinn Fein MLA Philip McGuigan described the development as a “tragedy” for the workforce and a “hammer blow” to the economy.

“Wrightbus is a huge employer in its own right but also a massive part of the manufacturing supply chain so this will have a major knock-on effect on smaller sub contractors and local suppliers,” he said.

“Ballymena and North Antrim are still feeling from a number of major blows in the manufacturing industry over recent years, and the crisis at Wrightbus, plus the ongoing uncertainty over Brexit, will only add to the pressure that has been created in the local economy and community.

Source: Read Full Article