Crane Co factory closure: 63 jobs to be lost over next two years, union says

The Crane Stockham Valve factory in east Belfast is part of US firm Crane Co

The Unite trade union has said 63 jobs will be lost over the next two years as a United States manufacturer winds down its operation in Northern Ireland.

Crane Stockham Valve is part of Connecticut-based Crane Co and makes valves and pipe fittings in an east Belfast factory.

The union said the firm would start making redundancies in early 2021.

Regional officer George Brash said the move "represents another blow for NI manufacturing."

The NI operation has a total of 89 staff and the company said some of them would move to a smaller office and others would be redeployed to other factories.

• Belfast factory closure could mean job losses

Global US firm Crane Co employs 12,000 workers worldwide. It said market forces led to losses over the past five years.

The most recent accounts show its UK operations posted a loss of £2.7m in 2018.

'Race-to-the-bottom'

Mr Brash said: "For its part, the company are citing global competition, market pricing pressure and financial performance in Belfast as justification for their decision.

"But it seems likely that this is really about the race-to-the-bottom in production going to lower cost locations."