Jaguar "may cut Halewood Jaguar night shift"

Sep 28 2008

Jaguar

BOSSES at Halewood’s Jaguar Land Rover plant are considering axing a press shop night shift in response to reduced vehicle sales.

The press shop practically works around the clock on a three-shift system – compared with the two-shift arrangement for the rest of the Halewood plant.

Some 380 staff out of the 2,200-strong workforce are based within the press shop.

It presses metal panels for vehicles at Halewood and other Land Rover sites in the Midlands.

One Halewood worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said staff understood the third shift could be axed within three weeks.

But a JLR spokeswoman insisted slashing the shift was just an option.

She also pledged there would be no redundancies if a shift was dropped.

She said: “We are reviewing our production plans in line with the requirements of the market and will adjust production plans as necessary.

“It is a potential option and will bring the press shop in line with the rest of the plant working a two-shift system. But at the moment, it is just an option.”

She added: “We need to make ourselves as efficient as possible. But we are not looking at redundancies for permanent JLR staff.”

National automotive spokesman for Unite the Union Dave Osborne welcomed the firm’s promise not to axe jobs.

He said: “This is not unusual in a cyclical industry that has to react to changes in the market.

“It is pleasing to note that the company has said there will be no job losses.”

It is believed staff affected by a switch from three shifts to two would be redeployed within the giant car plant.

On Thursday, the ECHO revealed that Halewood would shut down and cease production for a week from October 27 due to falling sales of its Jaguar X-Type and Land Rover Freelander 2 models as the credit crunch continues to bite.

Halewood introduced three “non-production” days earlier this month to regulate production in response to weaker car sales.