Jaguar seeks further redundancies

THE GUARDIAN
JAGUAR SEEKS ANOTHER 680 VOLUNTARY REDUNDANCIES
By Keith Harper

Jaguar yesterday introduced a seven day moratorium on job cuts to allow 1,400 workers to volunteer for redundancy by the end of next week. The company told union leaders that only 720 staff had responsed to its appeal. It required a further 680.

If the target was not achieved, it would have to sack the rest. The cuts amount to a reduction of one-third in Jaguar's workforce, from 12,000 to 8,000, in less than a year with 2,500 jobs having gone already. From last night, terms for compulsory redundancy were equalised with those for voluntary redundancy.

The company said it needs the deal by November 1. Its redundancy package was complicated and depended on length of service, it said, but it averaged out at £1,000 for every year in Jaguar's employ.

Most staff have been working a three day week for some months, although their pay is guaranteed. In the new year, the company intends to re-introduce a full working week for all staff.

Jaguar's production this year has dropped from 41,000 to 25,000 cars, a fall of almost 40 per cent. The second stage of a two year wage deal, providing increases of 7 per cent, due in November, will not be affected.

Leyland DAF yesterday imposed a 12 month pay freeze on its 6,200 workers after losing £125 million in 18 months. There was no immediate threat to jobs, although union officials said they were concerned. The decision from the company, a subsidiary of the Dutch truck firm DAF, was released in a letter to staff. Most of them are based at Leyland and Chorley, Lancashire, but 2,200 workers operate out of Birmingham and 550 in Glasgow. There are about 300 marketing staff at Thame, Oxfordshire.

The letter said: "This represents the worst trading conditions encountered in our business since the second world war."