Jim Allister Calls on EU Globalisation Fund to Help in Bombardier Redundancies Jobs Blow
03 April 2009
European Parliament MEP Jim Allister, who has been in Brussels for a series of meetings this week, said news of the job losses at Bombardier was a devastating blow.
"This is very bad news coming so quickly after the car component factory closure in west Belfast just days ago and the losses at FG Wilsons and Wrightbus. My heart goes out to all the families who will be affected by these redundancies. There have been such high hopes for Bombardier surviving the global economic crisis. But there is something that the EU can hopefully do to help in this situation."
Mr Allister said the EU Globalisation Fund exists to help in redundancy situations and should be fully utilised.
He called on Northern Ireland's Employment and Economy Ministers to explore all means to assist in this new crisis hitting Bombardier and to utilise the EU Globalisation Fund.
Mr Allister added:-
“In January 2007 the EU set up the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF). This new fund was introduced to cope with situations arising from large-scale redundancies resulting from structural changes in world trade patterns, where the impact on a region is significant. I believe the situation prevailing in Bombardier could qualify and thereby open the door to personalized support to the affected workers. The Fund is foreseen to offer: job search and mobility allowances; counselling; new ICT skills and other forms of training, entrepreneurial support to workers who have been made redundant. It will help individual workers but not, of course, companies. Whereas the European Social Fund is also relevant, it consists of multi-annual programmes in support of strategic, long-term anticipation and management of change and restructuring in the 2007-2013 period, with activities such as life-long-learning, the EGF is a response to a specific crisis; it will provide one-off, time limited individual support geared directly to helping workers who have suffered trade-related redundancies.
"It seems to me, therefore, that an application would be warranted. It would require matched 50% national funding, but the opportunity to draw down significant EU aid should not be ignored."
