JLR workers vote for pay-freeze to cut costs

06 March 2009

Workers at Jaguar Land Rover yesterday voted overwhelmingly to back proposals to help retain jobs amid the current recession that has dried up its car sales in the UK and Europe.

The workers employed at JLR's Gaydon, Whitley, Castle Bromwich, Halewood, Solihull and Browns Lane sites voted by 70 per cent to back proposals recommended by their unions, Unite and the GMB, which would see the working week reduced to four days and pay frozen for one year in order to ensure continued production and avoid compulsory redundancies.

The deal that the workers voted for includes a pay freeze for one year in lieu of avoiding compulsory redundancies in the non-management workforce in the UK over the next two years.

All the workers also opted for the four-day week at the plants, a 40-hour working week for salaried employees with no increase in pay with workers being able to interchange work across the Jaguar Land Rover West Midlands sites. The 2,400 salaried employees will forego the planned bonus this year.

The union leaders and the company were forced to arrive at an understanding in order to save jobs as the company had already axed around 1,800 agency, production and management jobs in recent months as well as where the company proposes to save around £70 million in costs.

In a joint statement following the ballot result, the unions said, "We did not want our members in JLR to be faced with the same fate as the thousands of others who have been dismissed in other companies. Our members in JLR deserve better - much better. The management agreed with our view that, when this unprecedented recession ends, that the retention of a skilled and loyal workforce is an integral part to the ongoing success of this business.