Car Body Firm Has Orders Piling Up

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
OXFORD. JAN. 8

The Pressed Steel Company at Cowley has offered back jobs to about 500 of its workers-the last of those declared redundant during the recession at the factory 14 months ago.

It is understood that orders are piling up and peak production is likely for some months ahead. Members of the Transport and General Workers' Union, who number about 8,000 in the factory, have been told that the labour force may be increased by several hundred in the next few months.

The Pressed Steel Company makes car bodies for a wide range of firms including the British Motor Corporation, the Rootes group, Fords, Jaguars and Rovers. It is, therefore, a good barometer for the industry as a whole and its increased production schedules would suggest that the industry is getting over the effects of last winter's recession. The satisfaction with which the Transport and General Workers' Union has welcomed increased production is tempered by a desire for employment security in the future.

The Pressed Steel factory branch of the union is asking its officials to meet the management for discussions on employment security.