Jaguar Unions Meet Ford on Browns Lane

LONDON, December 3 -- Jaguar unions met with management this morning in the first full meeting since Ford announced the end of car production at Browns Lane on 17th September 2004. The meeting follows a campaign by the unions and local community to press Ford to reverse their decision, which would result in the loss of 1,150 jobs. Ford made the announcement without any consultation with the unions and had refused to disclose their financial and business justification for the decision.

Dave Osborne, T&G National Secretary, said today:

"Ford were much more forthcoming with information and it was a positive meeting but there are a number of questions that we await answers to. We are yet to be presented with any evidence that convinces us that ending car production at Browns Lane will answer Ford's problems. We consider this the first consultation meeting and will continue to push for alternatives to closure at further meetings."

Roger Maddison, Amicus Regional Officer, said:

"We had a full and frank conversation but Ford is still withholding vital figures. We are still being refused a breakdown of the GBP80m cost savings a year they say will result from the redundancies and the effective closure of Brown's Lane. We estimate that no more than GBP15m can be made in salary savings and want them to justify where the remaining GBP65m is coming from. We also want to know the cost of transferring production from Browns Lane to the Castle Bromwich site. We estimate that the move will cost close to the GBP80m they say is going to be saved."

Thousands of people marched in Coventry last Saturday in support of keeping car production at Browns Lane, and unions Amicus, the T&G and GMB are balloting for industrial action at Browns Lane (closing date: 13th December).