Today, Airbus Defence and Space announced plans to cut up to 2,500 jobs mostly in the Space Segments Division sending shockwaves across its manufacturing sites. IndustriAll European Trade Union calls on Airbus’s top management to immediately engage with trade unions and prevent any compulsory redundancies. 

The space sector is a vital sector in Europe and is central for the EU open strategic autonomy. Tthe news of mass job losses in the sector at such a challenging geopolitical time is a shock to trade unions across Europe. Now more than ever, Europe needs a strong space and defence sector.
The company states a ‘’very challenging business context’’ and ‘’disrupted supply chains’’ assome of the reasons behind the announcement while stating that ‘’compulsory actions are not planned’’ and that they will ‘’work with its social partners to limit the impact by relying on all available social measures’’. IndustriAll Europe calls for immediate action to prevent both the loss of valuable jobs and the invaluable know-how and expertise of these workers.

Isabelle Barthes, Deputy General Secretary for industriAll Europe said: 

‘’This is terrible news for thousands of workers in Europe in the space and defence industry and their supply chains. These are exactly the type of highly-qualified, highly-skilled, and well paid jobs that we want in the European manufacturing sector. Not only is this dreadful news for the effected workers, families and communities, but it is a real blow for European innovation.

“Airbus states that they will work with their social partners to limit the impact and that the information and consultation process will follow in due course. We cannot stress enough that there is no time to lose. All efforts must be made to keep these jobs and we oppose any forced redundancies. At a time when the EU calls for strong industrial policy and increased investment in strategic industries, these redundancies are doing the polar opposite. We call on EU policy makers to look into this urgently, we cannot risk losing this strategic sector in Europe!’’