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Bombardier Global Job Cuts Will Not Impact Plattsburgh Plant

File photo of Bombardier rail manufacturing plant in Plattsburgh
WAMC/Pat Bradley
File photo of Bombardier rail manufacturing plant in Plattsburgh

Bombardier, a global manufacturer of rail cars and airplanes, plans to cut approximately 7,000 jobs — about 10 percent of its global workforce— over two years, while it adds jobs in growing areas of its business.
As Bombardier released its 4th quarter and year-end report for 2015 on Wednesday, it included plans to “optimize” its global workforce with both job cuts and new hiring in strategic areas.

The company will cut 7,000 production and non-production employees, including  2,000 contractors.  Broken down by sector, Bombardier will eliminate 2,500 jobs in aerostructures and engineering services.  1,300 jobs will be lost in the product development engineering, aerospace and the business aircraft division.  3,200 jobs will be cut in Bombardier’s transportation, or rail, division. Most of the impacted jobs are based in Canada and Europe.

The company operates a rail car manufacturing plant in Plattsburgh. Bombardier Transportation U.S. spokesperson Maryanne Roberts reports the New York plant is not affected by the layoffs.   “The good news is that today’s announcement has no impacts on the manufacturing activities at our Plattsburgh site. Our plans for Plattsburgh for the year remain unchanged and they include ramping up production and increasing employment levels for orders for San Francisco BART and New York City Transit. And there are other opportunities that we are actively pursuing in the U.S.”

Plattsburgh North Country Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Garry Douglas says he remained confident that Bombardier’s Plattsburgh plant would not be impacted due to its success in obtaining contracts.   “It actually reflects I think in part the strength of our transportation equipment cluster in the Plattsburgh-North Country area.  And the fact that at least at Plattsburgh there’s every reason to believe that not only will there be no layoffs by Bombardier out of this global number, but in fact they continue to anticipate over the course of this year adding numbers there as BART and other contracts start to ramp up in the plant.”

McGill University Associate Professor Karl Moore says there are three good reasons for Bombardier to adjust its workforce.  “The C-Series is now in production and so all those engineers in developing, or most of them, no longer are needed.  The second thing there’s a drop in demand for the business jets from Russia, Brazil, China, the Middle East, so that they need to make fewer planes hence they need fewer people.  And the third reason is because they’re doing a transformation under the newest CEO.”

Montreal Gazette Business Columnist Peter Hadekel says the job restructuring confirms that Bombardier has been struggling in all its divisions, including its European rail manufacturing.   “Investors think this company is spread far too thin and not really focused enough to satisfy them. It’s also confirmation that the rail business in particular has never really been a money maker.  They’re number one in a lot of categories in that business and it’s very heavily centered in Europe.  While they get a lot of contracts they can’t seem to squeeze profit out of them. So that’s been and ongoing problem.”

Bombardier reports that it had 70,900 employees worldwide at the end of 2015. The reductions will occur throughout 2016 and 2017.
 

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