Workers facing a nervous wait
August 20th, 2008, 6:40 pm Hobbies Ideas
WORRIED workers have returned to JCB after their three-week summer shutdown, not knowing if they still have a job.
The digger giant is set to axe 700 jobs in factories and offices across the UK after suffering a 20 per cent drop in orders this year.
Work resumed at factories in Rocester, Cheadle and Uttoxeter on Monday, but many employees may only have another 30 days’ work ahead of them.
Each factory has been handed a 30 or 90 day consultation period, during which it will have the opportunity to save some of its workers’ jobs.
And, despite company insiders telling The Advertiser they were expecting to hear the bad news this week, company bosses remained tight-lipped about who was in the firing line.
Uttoxeter mayor Councillor Pauline Morrison said she is ‘deeply concerned’ for the families of those who will lose their jobs.
She said: “The news that many redundancies are expected is devastating to all the families involved.
“I don’t know if they’ve been told who’s going yet but, if they haven’t, it is obviously going to be a massive worry.
“I just hope that this period of uncertainty in town will pass soon. I know it looks bleak at the minute but I’m sure JCB will be able to ride out the storm and, when things improve, they’ll be able to take workers on again.”
The company has entered into a formal consultation process with the GMB trade union and staff representatives for each of the individual business units affected.
Voluntary redundancies have been considered as part of the programme and a comprehensive counselling service is available to employees who are at risk of redundancy, the company said.
The announcement was made after a period of massive expansion for JCB, which now employs 5,700 people locally, compared to 3,900 in 2005.
Earlier this year, the company announced record pre-tax profits of ￡187 million for 2007, following the most successful year in its 62-year history.
The result was achieved in a year when machine sales rose to more than 72,000 and turnover reached a new peak of ￡2.25 billion, the company - which owns 11 factories nationwide - said.
WORKERS affected by the impending JCB redundancies have been offered a helping hand by a training company.
Tags: axe, bad news, business units, cheadle, company bosses, company insiders, consultation period, consultation process, councillor, digger, massive expansion, staff representatives, tax profits, uttoxeter, voluntary redundanciesRelated posts
