Hundreds of Rolls-Royce’s workers at its massive Bristol plant are fearing for their jobs this weekend after the engineering giant announced shock plans to axe 2,600 posts over the next 18 months.
The firm said it needs to slash costs by £120m over the next two years to stay competitive. The majority of the job cuts will come in Rolls-Royce’s core aerospace division. Most of the 3,500 workers at the firm’s sprawling Patchway site work in aerospace – the plant is Rolls-Royce’s main site for manufacturing engines used in military aircraft such as the Eurofighter-Typhoon and the Hawk trainer.
Some work is carried out on engines for civil aircraft and the plant also produces engines for Rolls-Royce’s marine division. 
Rolls-Royce has invested £75m to redevelop the plant in recent years, transforming it into one of the world's leading aircraft engine factories. The plant has played a key role in Bristol's aviation history since the birth of the industry and was worked on some of the UK's most innovative engines for aircraft as varied as Concorde, the Bristol Brabazon and the Harrier jump jet.
Among its latest projects is the short take-off, vertical landing version of the engine that will power the next-generation UK and US fighter jet F-35.
This week’s announcement, made in a statement to the London Stock Exchange, did not give a breakdown of where the jobs axe will fall. Rolls-Royce’s largest UK plant is in Derby where it mainly makes civil aviation engines such as those used by Airbus and Boeing commercial airliners. It has smaller plants in East Kilbride, Ansty near Coventry, Barnoldswick, Inchinnan, Hucknall in Nottinghamshire and Sunderland.
The Unite union told the BBC there would be 800-1,200 engineering jobs cut in Derby and Bristol. Rolls-Royce has a total global workforce of 55,000, just under half in the UK.
Three weeks ago Rolls-Royce, the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines, warned that that deteriorating economic conditions meant this year’s profits were likely to be between 3.5% to 4% lower than previously forecast. It was its second profit warning in eight months.
While it expected its core aircraft engine business to strengthen, sales in the oil and gas, mining, construction, industrial and agricultural sectors were being hit by cancelled or delaying orders, it said.
Chief executive John Rishton said in the statement: “We are taking determined management action and accelerating our progress on cost.
“The measures announced today will not be the last, however they will contribute towards Rolls-Royce becoming a stronger and more profitable company.”
Even if it hits its target of £120m cuts over the next 24 months, Rolls-Royce has pledged to continue to reduce costs by a further £80m.
Shadow industry minister Iain Wright called on the Government to ensure Rolls-Royce was not cutting jobs for “short-term share-price gains”.
He warned the redundancies could spark further job losses, pointing out that every engine sold by Rolls-Royce supports 3,000 jobs in the supply chain.
