Coronavirus: Hundreds of jobs at risk at airline seat company

A south Wales airline seat manufacturer has confirmed hundreds of jobs are at risk due to the impact of coronavirus.

French-owned Safran Seats GB has 1,200 employees across sites in Cwmbran, in Torfaen, and Newport, as well as in Brackley, Northamptonshire, and Camberley, Surrey.

The firm said a consultation would affect about 30% of the workforce.

Union Unite said it was a "knee-jerk" decision and called for Safran to use the government's job-retention scheme.

The company, which has its headquarters in Cwmbran, has 1,000 staff across its Welsh sites.

Unite said 187 jobs were under threat at the Cwmbran site, with about 200 at risk in Camberley, but Safran has not confirmed where its staff will be affected.

The company said it had already used the UK government's furlough scheme - which is due to finish at the end of June but could be extended - to "protect jobs in the short-term".

"Even if the scheme were to be extended, it is increasingly clear that it will take years for the aerospace industry to recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis," the company said in a statement.

"We have therefore had to take steps now to protect the longer-term existence of Safran Seats GB."

Safran said the the total number of people affected would be finalised through the consultation process but it was currently expected to be "around 30% of the current workforce".

Unite national officer for aerospace, Rhys McCarthy, said the union was "extremely concerned" by the decision.

"It is appalling that the company has not used this scheme to its full extent to buy time to look at alternatives to this massive jobs' cull," he said.

"It has applied for the scheme and should have continued to go down that route, instead of opting for immediate widespread redundancies as the first option."