Newton Calls For Assistance For Hughes Christensen Employees
Robin Newton East Belfast DUP MLA has said the out of the blue blow of 210 redundancies in the Hughes Christensen plant is a bitter pill for the company’s loyal workforce to swallow.
Robin Newton said,
“In the firm’s previous round of redundancies I had contact with a number of the staff. I also met with DETI Minister Foster and senior staff from Invest Northern Ireland urging them to do all they could to support the company. I understand every effort was made to work with the firm’s management to secure the future of the business in East Belfast.
For the 210 employees who will face losing their jobs the Dept. for Employment and Learning (DEL) must now move staff onto the premises offering advice on job search, retraining opportunities or benefits entitlement. This type of support has been helpful in other similar large scale redundancy cases.
There will be difficult days ahead for many of these reliable and dedicated staff, especially those in the more mature age bracket. Everything that can be done must be done to help the employees and their wives, partners and children
One of the benefits of devolution is the ability to react quickly in this type of difficult situation. The Hughes Christensen employees need that fast response from DEL in their current plight.”
