FEARS AT FORD
‘There’s‘ so much uncertainty.u People justj don’t know where theythe stand beyond 2020’
AROUND 1,000 jobs at Ford’s Bridgend engine plant could be placed in jeopardy, a union official has warned.
With production of two engines set to end by 2020 and investment in the new Dragon engine reduced, Unite’s Bryan Godsell said workers have been gripped by uncertainty.
“It has caused a great deal of uncertainty because people don’t know where they stand beyond 2020,” he said.
“It’s fair to say that there are currently strong production levels over the next couple of years.
“But the real fear is that four years down the line what happens then because the programme with Jaguar Land Rover and the Ford Sigma engine stops around 2019/20.”
Ford currently employs 1,850 people in Bridgend. It makes petrol engines for the Tata Motors-owned brand Jaguar Land Rover and the Ford Sigma engine.
Unite raised “grave concerns” over the future of the 36-year-old plant last week after Ford announced it was going to halve the plant’s proposed production of the new Dragon engine, due to begin in 2018, and “significantly reduce” planned investment in the site.
Ford confirmed that instead of an investment of £181m to produce the family of all-new, technologically-advanced, fuelefficient petrol engines, the initial investment will now be £100m with a workforce requirement of 550 and not 750 people.
Ford said the success of its other advanced engines and changes in market demand had prompted the decision.
Mr Godsell – regional co-ordinating officer for the Unite union, who has Ford under his remit – said the American motor giant has not communicated with staff since the Dragon capacity announcement and people are very worried.
“The workforce are feeling uncertain about their future. On the face of it up to 1,300 could lose their employment,” he said.
“We suspect the Jaguar Land Rover work might stop sooner because they have constructed their own engine plant in Wolverhampton.
“The Bridgend plant is a fantastic plant and there is a very highly-skilled workforce.
“They are preparing for the introduction of Dragon, but the real concern is that during the last year there has been the potential of 300,000 Dragon engines going through the plant (annually) and that reduced to 250,000 and that has reduced again to 125,000.
“There has been a £2.8bn investment in the Bridgend engine plant since 1980 so £100m is a drop in the ocean.
“We are asking what is the expected level of employment after 2020? What is going to sustain the employment level at 1,850? There was a special Welsh Government financial package which required the company to retain a minimum of 850 workers post 2020. But we would prefer it to be 1,850.
“What we would like to get over is that there is a human dimension to this. They have said there is nothing to be concerned about at the moment, but there are 1,850 people wondering what’s going to happen over the next four years and that’s quite a short time in a person’s working life.”
Mr Godsell said Unite are willing to take their questions to Ford’s board in Detroit, US. He added that senior Unite representatives are due to meet the union’s general secretary to discuss their next move.