SHIPYARD bosses have pledged to avoid compulsory redundancies as they stagger the loss of more than 800 Clyde jobs.
Defence giant BAE Systems yesterday confirmed hundreds of positions would go at Glasgow, Rosyth and Filton, near Bristol - and that an entire yard would be axed in Portsmouth.
But the company said its Scottish downsizing - inevitable after their two Glasgow yards wind down their work on Britain's two new giant aircraft carriers - will be phased over nearly three years.
Charlie Blakemore, the company's director of business and transformation, said the gradual process should soften the blow to the workforce, providing a window for many workers to find alternative employment inside his business or out.
Mr Blakemore said: "The potential job losses fall from next year through to the end of 2016. That gives us the opportunity to work really hard together to negate any compulsory job losses.
"There could be quite a number of volunteers. We are looking at redeployment and retraining and giving employees help to find work outside our business."
Industry insiders had always been braced for lay-offs after the carriers are finished. The contract - described as the "feast before the famine" on the Clyde - is huge, the ships the biggest ever built on the Clyde.
Much work is being carried out at both Govan and Scotstoun.
But BAE Systems workers are also at Rosyth, where a dockyard run by Babcock is being used to assemble the ships. The latest jobs warning for the Scottish division affects 835 people, including designers at Filton in Bristol.
The company and the UK Government yesterday announced that a yard in Portsmouth would shut, bringing the total jobs lost to more than 1700. That total does not include contractors and short-term workers hired by other firms to do carrier work. "This is about our core workforce," Mr Blakemore said.
The announcement effectively means Clyde yards have defence work for decades, whatever happens in next year's independence referendum, as England will not have a strategic naval shipyard.
The Portsmouth business has only operated for about a decade and lacks the kind of infrastructure and know-how found on the Clyde. It was always expected to be the most likely victim of cuts - although another plan that would have resulted in the closure of Govan and only Scotstoun saved was actively considered in recent weeks.
Mr Blakemore insisted the decision to save yards in Scotland was not political - despite a huge backlash in England amid accusations the UK Government and BAE Systems were "kowtowing to separatist Jocks".
Mr Blakemore said: "The announcement was purely based on industrial grounds, on the skills and capabilities of our workforce and the infrastructure. There was no political dimension to our decision."
The Clyde has always been in poll position to build the Royal Navy's next generation of frigates or Global Combat Ships, which are being designed in Glasgow and Filton.
However, this work was not expected to start immediately after the carrier contract ends.
That could have meant the yards would idle. The Government would have had to foot the bill for keeping the yards ticking over.
Yesterday Defence Secretary Philip Hammond instead chose to build three offshore patrol vessels or OPVs on the Clyde. He said: "This deal will provide the Royal Navy with three brand new maritime patrol vessels with a wide range of capabilities which will support our national interests and those of our overseas territories.
"This is an investment not only in three ships but in this country's warship-building industry. It prevents workers standing idle and sustains the vital skills needed to build the planned Type 26 frigate in the future."
The UK Government now has little choice but to build the Type 26s in Glasgow. It is understood the hulls will be built at Govan before the ships are fitted out at Scotstoun.
The Navy would like 13 of the vessels but it is not yet clear whether it can afford so many.
Mr Blakemore was upbeat. "This latest announcement gives us a strong future, with Type 26s - up to 13 of them - potentially providing work up to 2034," he said. "We now have an excellent springboard, a platform, to develop and build world-class complex ships."
Industry and other sources had expected Govan to close and all the work to be done at Scotstoun. Other sources - including those angry about the English yard closing - believe Govan's iconic status helped it to survive.
BAE Systems late last week said it was to remove cranes at the yard. Mr Blakemore yesterday said this work to dismantle them would continue despite a suggestion the decision would be reversed to preserve the heritage.
He said: "We understand the cranes are symbolic in Govan. But over the past few months we have been taking down plant and equipment from both yards - we have recently done some big demolitions at Scotstoun too.
"The cranes are in a state of disrepair and are no longer fit for purpose. We have undertaken to dismantle them as is part of the overall modernisation of our shipyard. We want to embrace our history and our heritage. But we have to shape our yards so we can create a new heritage."
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