I found this on my computer this morning. Thought it might be of
interest since we have seen very little from Tata or the
factory:Jaguar Land Rover Workers Agree To Pay Freeze
By Jennifer Quinn, Associated Press Writer
Manufacturing.Net - March 05, 2009
LONDON (AP) – Workers at beleaguered British auto maker Jaguar
Land Rover have voted for a pay freeze and a reduced work week in
order to save jobs, their unions said Thursday.
The proposals were backed by 70 percent of the nearly 9,000 workers
in the carmaker’s British operations who voted, Unite and the GMB
union, which represent the workers, said in a joint statement.
‘‘The choice for our members was clear – further mass redundancies
or what is undoubtedly some short-term pain in order to secure the
future for our members and their families,’’ the statement
said. ‘‘Only the latter could have been in the best interests of our
members.’’
Under the agreement, which goes into immediate effect, pay will be
frozen until 2010 and there will be a four-day work week at the
plants and the cancellation of bonuses for about 2,400 salaried
employees.
Jaguar Land Rover, which was bought by Tata Motors Ltd. in June
2007 from Ford Motor Co. for $2.3 billion, has already laid off 450
people this year.
‘‘This is an important step for us as a standalone business,’’ Chief
Executive David Smith said. ‘‘It also confirms our determination as
a team to steer Jaguar Land Rover through these extraordinary and
challenging times, so that our business is ready to take advantage
when the downturn finally ends.’’
In January, government figures revealed that new car production
fell by 58 percent from the year before; BMW, Nissan, Aston Martin,
Honda, Ford, Bentley and Toyota have all announced job cuts.
Britain’s auto industry employs about 850,000 people, as well as
hundreds of supply companies.–
48 Saloon
Charlotte, NC, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–