Jaguar Dispute After Record Year

August 26th 1963
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
COVENTRY, Aug. 25

About 3,000 Jaguar workers in Coventry may be sent home when they report for work tomorrow morning.  The Browns Lane assembly plant has been idle since Thursday because of a strike by 20 bodyshop men who claim that the company fixed a pay rate for waiting time between jobs without consultation. Some 2,000 assembly workers supported the body-shop men and others had to be laid off.

The company denied the allegation and repeated this weekend the warning that they would not negotiate until there was a return to work. The strikers say they want talks to start before they return. Private talks were taking place over the weekend between shop stewards and trade union officials and the strikers will meet early tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile. Jaguar Cars have reported that final sales figures for the financial year ended July 31 showed that it was a record year for Jaguar exports. The biggest advance in sales was to Europe where an increase of 45 per cent was achieved over the previous record year of 1960-61. There was an increase of 106 per cent in exports to the Common Market and one of 32 per cent in exports to the Efta countries.