One month JLR shutdown denied
PRODUCTION has resumed at Jaguar Land Rover following a temporary shutdown as bosses denied a longer shutdown was looming at Christmas.
Around 4,000 DHL employees at JLR’s Lode Lane plant in Solihull returned to work last week after the UK car giant announced a production freeze on October 22.
Agency staff on JLR logistics contracts had their wages protected throughout this period, following an agreement secured by union Unite.
Before the shutdown, the car maker also revealed workers at the Castle Bromwich plant would be on a three-day week until Christmas.
Jaguar Land Rover recently revealed sales had fallen by 13.2 per cent to 129,887 vehicles for the three months to September 30.
The company reported revenues of £5.6 billon and a pre-tax loss of £90 million for the three-month period.
A Jaguar Land Rover spokesman dismissed suggestions of an early Christmas production shutdown – insisting that “strong rumours” circulating among employees at one of its biggest suppliers were false.
An announcement was sent out to staff at Unipart, a company which manufactures bumpers within JLR’s parts distribution centre.
Unipart is one of Europe’s leading independent logistics companies and employs around 500 people in the Coventry area.
A leaked document signed by Unipart managing director Dave Pound read: “There are strong rumours that JLR Solihull will shut down early for the Christmas holiday which will have significant impact on our production volumes which is completely outside of our control.
“We have no choice during this financially challenged year but to take drastic action to mitigate some of this impact.”
But a spokesman for Unipart said later: “We’ve been informed by Jaguar Land Rover that there will not be an early shutdown in December and that there is no need for the plan that we shared with our teams. However, forward planning is essential to today’s manufacturing operations to manage the rapid changes that can occur.”
JLR said suggestions of a monthlong shutdown from December 7 were speculation and hearsay. A spokesman added: “Nothing has been agreed or discussed.”
Workers at Jaguar Land Rover are currently scheduled to break up on December 21 and return to work on January 2. A Unite spokesman said: “These are uncertain times for car workers, not just at JLR but across the industry.”