A LEADING United States pension fund is asking the East Belfast aeronautics company formerly known as Shorts to explain why fewer than two out of every ten of its workers are Catholic.
The New York State Pension Fund holds over $15 million in shares in Spirit AeroSystems, where 81.2 per cent of its 2,017 employees are Protestant and 'other' and 18.8 per cent Catholic, according to the most recent figures.
Shorts was bought by Canadian company Bombardier in 1989. In 2020 Bombardier sold the business to Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems, one of the world's biggest manufacturers of airframe components.
In 1991, the number of Catholic workers at Shorts PLC stood at 11 per cent, meaning the number of Catholics working today at Spirit AeroSystems has risen by only around eight per cent in over 30 years.
The glaring disparity in the Spirit AeroSystems workforce remains even though the most recent figures show that the number of Catholics and Protestants in the overall workforce in the North of Ireland is virtually identical. 43.5 per cent of the workforce here is Protestant, 43.4 per cent Catholic and 13.1 per cent "non-determined".
The Office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli controls a huge US pension fund, millions of which are invested in Spirit AeroSystems, a spokesperson for the Comptroller's Office told the Belfast Media group.
"We do have holdings in Spirit AeroSystems," the spokesperson said. "It is in public equities. We own 526,029 shares, valued at approximately $15.3 million.
"State Comptroller DiNapoli and the New York State Pension Fund have long held the position that employment discrimination is unacceptable and can hurt long-term value for a company.
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
"Companies in Northern Ireland must take proactive measures to address under-representation and promote equality of opportunity for individuals from all religious backgrounds.
"We are reaching out to the company for information."
North Belfast MP John Finucane called on Spirit AeroSystems to take action.
“Spirit AeroSystems and employers more generally need to address underrepresentation and inequalities in the workplaces," he said.
“Aside from the religious disparities we also want to see progress in addressing the comparatively low rates of employment for people with disabilities and those from an ethnic minority background.
“We also need to see progress on tackling the gender pay gap and removing the barriers women face to maintaining full-time employment."
SDLP councillor Carl Whyte said: “I find these figures staggering and that so little progress has been made in addressing this from the previous figures in the early 1990s leaves Spirit AeroSystems with serious questions to answer. I will be writing to them to seek a meeting to discuss these issues and how it can be constructively addressed.
“I acknowledge that in the past Spirit introduced initiatives like apprenticeships etc. to try and recruit staff, but given the population breakdown in this area it’s hard to understand why the workforce would be made up so heavily of people from one community.
“This also points to broader issues around training and educational opportunities in areas like north Belfast. We need to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to reach their full potential through education and increasing the focus in areas like STEM will give young people greater opportunities to pursue job opportunities in companies like Spirit when they do become available.”
Belfast Media contacted Spirit AeroSystems on several occasions but no response has been received.
