Trade and industry leaders in Northern Ireland will ask the British government to intervene to try to safeguard some of the 2,000 jobs, which Bombardier Aerospace has warned are under threat in Belfast.
The Canadian aerospace giant, the largest private sector employer in the North, yesterday confirmed plans to shed up to 3,800 jobs across its aerospace facilities in Canada, the US and Northern Ireland.
Mr Robert Brown, Bombardier's chief executive officer blamed the slowdown in the global economy and the "shock waves" from the terrorist attack in the US as the reasons for the job cuts.
Bombardier employs more than 7,300 people at Shorts, its Belfast-based aerospace division.
The group has said that 480 permanent jobs will go before Christmas and a further 400 temporary workers will be laid off in the North by January.
A spokesman for Bombardier said job losses were likely across all departments and that the group "profoundly regretted" the redundancies.
But Bombardier has also warned that if its markets do not show a significant recovery within the next few months a further 1,100 jobs will go in Northern Ireland early next year.
The group's share price has almost halved in value since the terrorist attacks on September 11th but trade union leaders in the North are worried that Bombardier may be over-reacting to the situation.
Mr Kevin McAdam, regional officer with the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union, said it did not accept that 2,000 jobs should be lost in Belfast.
"Two weeks ago this company had a full order book - staff were under the impression that there were orders in the pipeline and that business was good.
"We appreciate that the terrorist attack in the US has really changed things but on the other hand Bombardier is saying that they still have a backlog of orders, so are they over-reacting?" Mr McAdam said.
Sir Reg Empey, the North's Enterprise minister, has said the proposed job losses would be a devastating blow to the local economy.
Bombardier sources more than £30 million sterling (€48 million) of goods and services in Northern Ireland and the Republic each year.
A downturn in production in Northern Ireland is likely to have a major impact on the supplier base, which has grown up around the group.
Sir Reg wrote to Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to request a national response in dealing with the problem.
Dr John Reid, the Secretary of State, pledged support on the job losses and said: "I know this will be a time of deep anxiety and uncertainty for many families. I will do all I can to avert major job losses locally."
In the last 12 years Bombardier has invested more than £1 billion in Northern Ireland, its pre-tax profits average more than £100 million per annum in the North.
Last year the group created 1,400 additional jobs in Northern Ireland and was expected to step up production at its three plants this autumn after winning a £1 billion order to supply 50 aircraft to Deutsche Structure Finance in June.
Northern Ireland is Bombardier Aerospace's largest aerostructures supplier in Europe; three plants supply to a number of the group's programmes including the regional jet 100/200/700 and 900 series and the Dash 8.
Bombardier has confirmed that several orders have now been deferred by major airlines and that it is revising production levels and delivery schedules for the current year.
