Contour cuts

Contour Premium Aircraft Seating have announced they will be making up to forty people redundant at it's plant in Llantarnam, near Cwmbran.

Despite the company proposing to use compulsory, rather than voluntary redundancies, MD Mark Crompton said “It is our aim to mitigate the impact of this action on our employees as much as possible during the forthcoming consultation period.”

Gordon Brown called the company "a success" when he visited during last month's whistle stop tour of the region.

Ideas for Life...jobs 'til March?

Today Panasonic announced it's to cut five per cent of its work force - 15,000 people. Half of those will based in Japan.

Panasonic employs just over 1000 people in South Wales, 400 making telephone switchboards in Newport, and 640 at it's Cardiff R&D and Manufacturing plant.

Still early days yet but recent manufacturing closures across Wales have made everyone involved pretty jumpy. Cardiff Central MP Jenny Willott branded any potential cuts 'a disaster' while Shadow Minister for the Economy David Melding AM called it 'extremely worrying news'.

It will be interesting to see if the Government at the Bay and/or the one in Westminster are able to do anything to ensure the axe doesn't fall in South Wales...the signs aren't good after the Corus debacle though.

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Listen to my guest appearance on the widely acclaimed Politics Cymru Podcast, and hear my thoughts on the Corus debacle, plus the usual heady mix of politics, banter and assembly gossip from the three Dewis.

Sun Juice update

Workers at the Serious Food Sun Juice factory in Llantrisant have been told 127 of them will lose their jobs.

I'm still trying to find out whether this is instead of or on top of the 200 redundancies that were announced in November.

The company, which supplies Tesco and Starbucks, blames harsh trading conditions for the cuts.

Job Loss Map

Seems to be a lot of talk about South Wales, and Cardiff in particular, being protected from the recession by the public sector.

While it's true the large number of Local Government, NHS, University, and Quango employees in Cardiff are largely safe, there have still been a number of less high-profile redundancies across the region.

To see for yourself, check out the map below. It's a work in progress but nonetheless it shows just how badly the area's been affected. If anyone spots any that I've missed out please feel free to email me and I'll make the changes asap.

(ps. The map seems to work a lot better in Firefox browsers)

Help for the newly unemployed

The Assembly have announced £68m plans to help the newly redundant re-train and get back into work. They've been touting it as a response to the Corus announcement, although it seem this press release was published before the extent of the redundancies was confirmed.

Quick response or slick PR?

I also feel obliged to ask why the Welsh Assembly are paying to pick up the pieces when Corus have admitted (see the press release in yesterday's post) that they will be making £200m operating profits as a result of this 'competitiveness initiative'?

I also wonder how well the Unions have dealt with this situation. Back in December, there was talk of a 10% pay cut being offered to save jobs. Community Union apparently rejected it...now 10% of their members are being made redundant.

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."