Engineering news
Bombardier Aerospace has announced plans to cut up to 130 jobs in Belfast.
Agency workers involved in production across the firm's bases will be affected by lay-offs at one of Northern Ireland's largest employers, a company spokeswoman said.
Almost 5,000 permanent employees and about 950 temporary and contract staff work for the Canadian aircraft manufacturer in Northern Ireland.
Bombardier said: "Based on current customer demand and the need to be competitive, unfortunately we have to make adjustments to our workforce. We will, therefore, be letting go up to 130 of our complementary labour force, who work alongside our permanent employees across the company.
"This is very regrettable, but we expect the level of our complementary labour force to fluctuate on a regular basis, as it is based on peaks and troughs in customer demand.
"Up until mid-2014, we had increased our complementary labour force by over 1,000 positions, but lately we have had to reduce this level."
The union Unite said it was a setback for local manufacturing.
Davy Thompson, regional coordinating officer, said: "This is another savage blow to the workforce at Bombardier-Shorts coming within six months of the loss of 390 jobs in September of last year.
"Unite is disappointed by the scale of job losses associated with this announcement but we are committed to securing the very best possible terms for all our members affected by this decision.
"This announcement highlights the inadequacy of existing employment protection, in particular for that afforded to agency workers who are making up more and more of the overall Northern Ireland labour force.
"There's a need for Stormont politicians to get serious on action to improve job security protections for workers, particularly within the manufacturing sector where there is a real risk of 'de-skilling."
Last year Bombardier announced a reorganisation that will lead to 1,800 job losses across its global operations.