2012-09-29 Fokker Technologies and the Netherlands trade union confederation FNV Bondgenoten have signed a covenant about the importance of support for the aerospace industry and the efforts that both parties will make to maintain employment opportunities in the Netherlands resulting from participation in the F 35 project.
Fokker has chosen the Netherlands as its primary location for knowledge development and production, and has declared its intention to create as many jobs as possible in the Netherlands.
The company also commits itself to make an extra contribution to the training of future technical personnel. The F-35 project is of great economic significance for the Netherlands, due mainly to the large numbers of jobs it creates and the associated industrial interests.
These are powerful arguments for the economic desirability of participation in the F-35 project by the Netherlands.
The Dutch aerospace industry’s involvement in the F-35 project results from an investment made 10 years ago by the Dutch government.
Since then orders resulting from the F-35 project have led to many hundreds of jobs in the Netherlands. This year work on the F-35 involves a total of 1,000 direct and indirect full-time jobs, and this number will rise to 2,200 full-time jobs throughout the industry (also both direct and indirect) when production is ramped-up from 2019. For Fokker the project involves more than 500 jobs in 2012 in regions subject to pressure on employment opportunities such as Drenthe and Noord-Brabant.
“The F-35 project provides vital jobs for our employees, and offers their families a future for many years to come. We recruited 360 new people at Fokker in 2011. This employment is highly important at this time of financial crisis. The project offers unequalled opportunities for Dutch engineers and other specialists to contribute on a daily basis to the development and building of the world’s most ultramodern aircraft. It’s absolutely clear that this has a positive effect on knowledge development in the aerospace industry”, said Sjoerd Vollebregt, CEO of Fokker Technologies.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/39773/?SID=8d95fb0fa9bc7c208df94556477ccd5f