AQW 3842/16-21

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 23/09/2016
Answered On Date: 24/10/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy what efforts were made by Invest NI in the last 12 months to mitigate Caterpillar job losses.

Answer:

Caterpillar Inc. announced in September 2015 that it was seeking to reduce its annual operating costs by approximately $1.5 billion through workforce reduction of approximately10,000 and the consolidation and closure of a number of plants throughout the world.

Following this announcement, Invest NI’s Chief Executive met with the company’s local and US teams in Belfast in May 2016, and with US senior management at the company’s US headquarters in August 2016.

This is in addition to the regular engagement between Invest NI staff and the company on both operational and strategic matters.