The Assembly gets ProActive...too little too late?

As the number of redundancies on my Job Loss Map tips 10,000, the Welsh Assembly announces:
"100 staff at the Japanese-owned automotive component manufacturer, Shimizu, based in Welshpool, could receive up to £2,000 of funding per individual for training and a wage subsidy of £2,000 each"

It's part of the new £48m ProAct scheme which aims to help employers keep their work force while orders drop-off. While they're not needed for their normal roles they'll be trained in up-to-date skills so that when orders pick up again the company will be well placed to meet demand.

Unfortunately the new programme is too late for the 500 steelworkers at Corus in Llanwern who learnt their fate a fortnight ago, the 200 workers at Sun-Juice who got confirmation of theirs today, or the Hoover workers who will get confirmation of theirs in the next couple of weeks, but it will be interesting to see if this is enough to protect the jobs in Welshpool, and indeed elsewhere when it's rolled out.

Ironically, today also saw Fforwm, the body representing Further Education colleges in Wales, claim that a £3m cut in Assembly funding will put 450 jobs at risk. So while 100 manufacturers in Welshpool will be offered training and job protection, the very people providing that training could face redundancy themselves.

One hand other, give and take...?

Corus Steel

On a day of global job cuts, the recession (it's official) made its presence felt closer to home today when one of the region's largest employers wielded the axe.

Corus have announced it intends to shed 10% of its work force to cope with the fall in demand for steel.

Of 3,500 planned redundancies, 2,500 will be UK based, with around 1,100 in Wales. Llanwern is the hardest hit site, where the mill is expected to be mothballed (although some fear closure altogether) and more than 500 staff laid off.

They blame the recession, falling steel prices, rising energy costs and the decline of the construction, automobile and manufacturing industries.

A press release outlining the company's 'initiative to enhance competitiveness" states:

"Today’s initiative is strategic and structural in nature. Elements of the initiative comprise long-term plans that were already under consideration, but which have been brought forward as a result of the slowdown. It should bring annual improvements in operating profit of more than £200m."

Corus pay cut

Despite reports by the BBC and the Financial Times, Corus employees have not agreed to a 10% pay cut.

Speaking on 5live this morning, Community Union General Secretary Michael Leahy said that while discussions with Corus were ongoing, they had yet to agree a course of action to safe guard jobs at the Llanwern site.

-----update------

I've just had confirmation from a contact at Corus that no agreement has been reached.

Job Loss Map

The map below shows where in Wales jobs are being cut.

The number's in the map pin relate to the year the cuts were made (ie. 9 = 2009, 8 = 2008...Red pins are awaiting a date).

To see this map in a separate window, click here

Compiling the figures for this map meant collating information from various sources, so many thanks to:

• Wales Online
• BBC Wales
• Dylan Jones Evans
  

To see the data used to plot this map, and more details about the job losses, click here.

Introduction

As part of my course in Broadcast Journalism, I've been made part of the team responsible for covering employment news.

Given the current state of the economy it's not surprising to hear the majority of the news in this area relates to redundancies/job losses.

I'm going to try to use this blog to keep a track of job losses as they happen. I would welcome any input you can provide, and while I'll do my best to keep all the figures accurate, please don't hesitate to let me know if I've made a mistake, or more importantly, missed something out.

Background

The last few months have seen a flurry of job-losses across Wales, with a number of large and small firms announcing closures or cut-backs as they try and limit the effects of the economic downturn.

The bulk of the job losses seem to have been in the manufacturing sector, despite the widely held view that the white collar workers will be the major victims of this recession.

As Dylan Jones pointed out in a recent article, the Welsh economy's saving grace could be the large Public Sector workforce, whose jobs are likely to be largely safeguarded by an increase in Government spending...although this hasn't prevented the current dispute between the PCS Union and the Government (their employers), which saw a civil service strike suspended at the 11th hour.

With Bosch, Hoover, and David McLean all confirming job losses in the last few days, my immediate focus is on tracking the number of employers cutting back on staff.

To help with this, I have set up a map showing where job losses have occurred.

Click here for a map outlining job losses in Wales.