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Nissan job cuts: We will survive
These are dark days for Wearside, but we've survived worse and will come back fighting.
The loss of 1,200 jobs at Nissan is a hammer blow for Sunderland, but don't think this is like the darkest days of the 80s, when the mines closed and the shipyards shut their gates.
This is a different city than it was then. We are more resilient than during those bleak days, less reliant on a handful of employers.
Nissan news & reaction
>> More in-depth reaction in today's Sunderland Echo
- TOP STORY: We will survive
- Nissan workers stunned
- Nissan boss: We will come back
- Union chief fears job losses domino effect
- Sad news for city
- Reaction from businesses
- 'Sunderland people will get through'
- Key dates in Nissan's history
- How the news broke... 'Nissan axe 1,200 jobs'
Today's Sunderland may be reeling from the devastating loss of so many jobs, but it is better placed to bounce back from this recession than it was two decades ago.
Yes, workers who have done so much to make the city proud, to make the Nissan factory the envy of the motor manufacturing world, have been cast aside through no fault of their own.
And it hurts to know that families are fretting over an uncertain future.
Have your say
- What do you think? Are you a Nissan worker fearing for your future? Email us or call the newsdesk on 5017208
- Who is to blame for the crisis? Vote in the panel on the bottom right of this page
- Join the debate in our forum
But we must remember that the Nissan plant, the city's main private employer directly and indirectly responsible for so many livelihoods, is not closing down.
With so many working to safeguard its presence here – inside the city and beyond Wearside – Nissan has a future in Sunderland.
Our thoughts are with those who are to lose their jobs. As the shipyard workers and miners did before them, they will need to retrain and find work elsewhere.
Yesterday's news was half-expected, but no less grim to receive.
But this is not the end of an era, like so many of us experienced 20 years ago. The fightback begins today.
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Weather for Sunderland
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -3 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South west
