JLR agencies’ union in talks to limit UK plant disruption
24 Aug 2013 3:43 AM IST
Workers who deliver auto parts to three Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) factories in the UK are holding talks with their firms to avert industrial action over a pay row that could bring production at these plants to a standstill.
Unite, the workers’ union, had held a ballot among its members and decided to stage half an hour stoppages at the start of each shift next Wednesday at two JLR car plants in the West Midlands and one at Halewood on Merseyside.
The industrial action will also include a ban on overtime on 28 and 29 August over a pay row with employment agencies delivering supplies to the three plants and a key distribution centre at Ellesmere Port.
'Negotiations are ongoing and Unite hopes to reach an agreed resolution,' a Unite spokesperson said, adding that a meeting with employers would determine the future course of action.
Unite could have called an all-out strike at the sites after about 3,500 members at staffing agencies - DHL, Staffline, NAC and Milestone, including 900 at Halewood - voted in favour of a strike, or action short of a strike but said that it was keen on a settlement.
'We will be continuing to push for a settlement which ends low pay and exploitation while delivering permanency for agency workers. Unite has given seven days notice of industrial action to DHL and other agencies providing services to JLR plants.
'The law insists that the union must take industrial action within 28 days of a ballot. The union will, therefore, take minimum action to allow talks to continue while keeping our mandate for action alive so negotiations can continue,' the Unite spokesperson said.
While Unite argues that pay rates for agency workers involved in the automotive supply chain have been eroded over the past decade, the employment agencies claim they are in line for the logistics sector.
'Our warehouse operatives and drivers already enjoy very attractive rates of pay and shift allowances. This year we have made a pay offer worth 6.2 per cent.
'For 2014 we have offered a minimum 3 per cent increase or RPI (retail price index). This would make our staff among the highest paid in the logistics sector,' a DHL spokesperson said.
It is believed DHL employees, who often work alongside better-paid JLR workers, want a larger pay rise to put them on similar terms. However, the DHL spokesperson added, 'Unite accepts that our employees, who do an excellent job in supporting automotive manufacturing for the customer, do not undertake comparable work to our customer's employees who actually build the cars. Therefore, any claim for similar pay and conditions is flawed.
'Unite has consistently failed to provide any meaningful justification for its most recent claim which amounts to a pay increase of 21 per cent for in-plant operatives and 30 per cent for drivers, over the next three years.'
In a separate dispute, workers at Canadian agency Magna International have also voted in a ballot over pay levels for staff involved in supplying JLR car plants. The result of that ballot is expected within a week.
Unite, the workers’ union, had held a ballot among its members and decided to stage half an hour stoppages at the start of each shift next Wednesday at two JLR car plants in the West Midlands and one at Halewood on Merseyside.
The industrial action will also include a ban on overtime on 28 and 29 August over a pay row with employment agencies delivering supplies to the three plants and a key distribution centre at Ellesmere Port.
'Negotiations are ongoing and Unite hopes to reach an agreed resolution,' a Unite spokesperson said, adding that a meeting with employers would determine the future course of action.
Unite could have called an all-out strike at the sites after about 3,500 members at staffing agencies - DHL, Staffline, NAC and Milestone, including 900 at Halewood - voted in favour of a strike, or action short of a strike but said that it was keen on a settlement.
'We will be continuing to push for a settlement which ends low pay and exploitation while delivering permanency for agency workers. Unite has given seven days notice of industrial action to DHL and other agencies providing services to JLR plants.
'The law insists that the union must take industrial action within 28 days of a ballot. The union will, therefore, take minimum action to allow talks to continue while keeping our mandate for action alive so negotiations can continue,' the Unite spokesperson said.
While Unite argues that pay rates for agency workers involved in the automotive supply chain have been eroded over the past decade, the employment agencies claim they are in line for the logistics sector.
'Our warehouse operatives and drivers already enjoy very attractive rates of pay and shift allowances. This year we have made a pay offer worth 6.2 per cent.
'For 2014 we have offered a minimum 3 per cent increase or RPI (retail price index). This would make our staff among the highest paid in the logistics sector,' a DHL spokesperson said.
It is believed DHL employees, who often work alongside better-paid JLR workers, want a larger pay rise to put them on similar terms. However, the DHL spokesperson added, 'Unite accepts that our employees, who do an excellent job in supporting automotive manufacturing for the customer, do not undertake comparable work to our customer's employees who actually build the cars. Therefore, any claim for similar pay and conditions is flawed.
'Unite has consistently failed to provide any meaningful justification for its most recent claim which amounts to a pay increase of 21 per cent for in-plant operatives and 30 per cent for drivers, over the next three years.'
In a separate dispute, workers at Canadian agency Magna International have also voted in a ballot over pay levels for staff involved in supplying JLR car plants. The result of that ballot is expected within a week.
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