BAE job cuts hit Brough’s elite workforce
Jackie Long
Social Affairs Editor and Presenter
With BAE Systems announcing plans to shed 900 jobs at its Brough plant, the town – for nearly a century a centre for aircraft manufacture in Humberside – faces hard times ahead.
The economic storm has been sweeping up the Humber. Unemployment is beginning to touch places for so long shored up against the torrents.
No longer the vibrant heart of the tiny town of Brough, the BAE factory will lose 899 jobs – some as soon as Boxing Day.
Jackie Green and her partner are among the casualties. She was still putting the finishing touches to her dream home when she heard the news. Now she is putting the house on the market.
Elite workforce
Aircraft have been manufactured here for 95 years, and for almost 40 years it has been the home of the Hawk fighter jet – one of Britain’s most successful but controversial military exports.
The workers at Brough were an elite, their skills prized and the rewards they received clear.
There are houses in Brough that have been home to aerospace workers for two generations. The question is: what happens when the jobs start to disappear?
Over a pint in the local pub, BAE workers told me they will fight the cuts, however futile. They have worked virtually their whole lives at the plant. Now, despite assurances that there is a shortage of skilled workers across the country, none of the men I spoke to thinks finding a job will be easy.
Renewable jobs?
If fighter jets are the past, then the government hopes wind turbines could be Humberside’s. German engineering giant Siemens is looking to build a major renewable energy plant in the area, providing exactly the kind of skilled jobs which will be lost at BAE.
But business leaders say progress has slowed on the crucial deal after the local regional development agency was abolished by the government. The government insists it is working hard to bring Siemens to Hull. We were told the prime minister himself has been meeting the company to keep things moving.
The government has also promised the area will become an enterprise zone – alongside 20 others across the country, all vying for new business.
But Maggie Turpin, whose husband and several relatives have worked at Brough, said there is one thing they want – and now – from the prime minister: jobs.
