JLR to cut 5,000 jobs with US carmaker poised to trim European production
A Jaguar Land Rover site at Halewood in Merseyside. The carmaker employs 44,000 workers in the UK.
Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Jaguar Land Rover and Ford are to lose thousands of jobs, with some of the cuts expected to affect UK staff.
Ford announced widespread cuts across its European operations on Thursday, although large-scale job losses are not expected in the UK. However, Ford’s European president, Steven Armstrong, declined to give assurances that there would be no redundancies at the carmaker’s Dagenham and Bridgend plants.
Armstrong also warned that a no-deal Brexit could result in further job losses in the UK, and did not rule out the closure of British plants if no deal is agreed.
“If Brexit were to go in the wrong direction we would have to have another look at what we have to do,” he said. “We would take whatever actions necessary […] Nothing would be off the table.”
JLR, Britain’s biggest carmaker, is expected to announce up to 5,000 job losses on Thursday afternoon as it attempts to shore up finances against declining diesel sales, falling Chinese demand and Brexit uncertainty.
Sources familiar with the company’s plans said they do not expect the cuts to have a major impact on staff at key production facilities such as Castle Bromwich and Solihull, with management roles in the UK and overseas likely to bear the brunt.
JLR, owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, announced 1,000 job losses at its Solihull factory in April 2018, after UK sales of the Range Rover and Discovery models fell, while 2,000 staff at Castle Bromwich moved to a three-day week last year.
A spokesman for Theresa May, the prime minister, said: “JLR have been very clear that they regard the UK as home and are investing in the future to develop the next generation of vehicles. We will continue to work closely with the company to support their long-term plans.”
Responding to JLR’s expected jobs announcement, the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, called on the government to end the uncertainty around Britain’s departure from the EU.
“This is more concerning news for workers across Jaguar Land Rover today, who have suffered months of uncertainty, not least as a result of the government’s Brexit chaos,” she said.
“We await details of Jaguar Land Rover’s plans, but urge the government to look at the business case for these proposed redundancies when they are announced, and to work closely with Jaguar Land Rover and the trade unions to ensure that all UK redundancies are purely on a voluntary basis.
“The government needs to realise that the automotive sector from factory floor and right across supply chains desperately needs tangible support, not warm words.”
Unions expressed concerns about the expected job losses. Roy Rickhuss, the general secretary of Community, said: “This news will worry all those working in Britain’s manufacturing sector. The looming threat of a disastrous no-deal Brexit is already having a real impact on jobs.
“The car industry plays a vital role in supporting other sectors, such as steelmaking. It is important that government, employers, and unions, work together to ensure supply chains are not harmed, and that Brexit does not cost us any more jobs.”
Hours before JLR was due to confirm its plans, Ford said it would overhaul European operations in an attempt to increase profit margins, including the discontinuation of lossmaking vehicle lines.
The US carmaker will abandon the multivan market, stop manufacturing automatic transmissions in Bordeaux from August, review its operations in Russia, and combine the headquarters of Ford UK and Ford Credit to a site in Dunton, Essex.
Armstrong said the manufacturer is not making redundancies as part of the consolidation at Dunton.
The company said it hoped to achieve most of the job reductions through “voluntary employee separations”, and would start talks with unions.
Ford employs 14,000 people in the UK, including 3,000 who make engines in Dagenham, east London, and 1,950 at a plant in Bridgend, south Wales.
Armstrong said: “We are taking decisive action to transform the Ford business in Europe.
“We will invest in the vehicles, services, segments and markets that best support a long-term, sustainably profitable business, creating value for all our stakeholders and delivering emotive vehicles to our customers.”
The carmaker restructured its European leadership in December, saying it was carrying out a “fundamental reset and redesign of its business”.