Slump in demand threatens JCB jobs
HEAVY machinery giant JCB has warned that up to 950 jobs are at risk of redundancy at its UK plants after demand for its products fell by half as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
The company wrote to its employees yesterday to advise that jobs are under threat at its 10 plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham.
A 45-day consultation period will begin on Monday. Around 500 Guidant agency employees, who work at JCB’s UK sites, are also being released from the business.
JCB said the announcement was a result of the severe disruption caused to its business by the current crisis.
Chief executive Graeme Macdonald said the decision to restructure JCB’s business had been extremely tough but that it “had no choice but to take difficult decisions to adapt to this new economic reality”.
He said: “In 2020 we had planned to sell and produce over 100,000 machines. With so much global uncertainty, that figure right now is looking more like 50,000 machines.
“In the UK, around 85% of everything we manufacture is exported and our UK factories will now produce machines at half the rate we had planned just a few months ago.
“As a result, we have no choice but to align our cost base to demand for the rest of the year.
“It is deeply regrettable that we have had to take these steps to restructure the business and that it will have an impact on so many people. No business could have anticipated the scale of the Covid-19 crisis and its economic consequences.”
JCB currently employs around 6,700 people in the UK, including agency employees.
Stuart Harrison, of the GMB union, said: “This announcement is devastating to everyone involved.
“GMB’s senior representatives have entered into urgent talks about the future of the business with management.
“We will keep fighting to avoid job losses at all costs, for our members and their families.”