Anger brews at JLR over outsourcing buzz

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Nano mishaps prompt booking cancellationsTCS sees Asia-Pacific deals improvingTata Motors buys out HispanoTata Steel first half sales surges 21%

Mumbai: The Tata group may have just managed to fend off major labour unrest among the Corus workforce by disbursing a much-awaited bonus, but there's another brewing on the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) front.

After Tata Motors recently announced its plan to shut down a Jaguar Land Rover plant in the West Midlands by 2014, it gave rise to speculation that the company is looking at outsourcing JLR production to India and China. This has got the JLR workmen worried. As per reports, British union leaders will meet lawmakers from a key manufacturing belt to express their reservation over the reported long-term plans to outsource parts of JLR production to India and China and concern over the fate of thousands of workers at JLR sites. The unions are believed not to involve owners of Tata Motors at this point of the negotiations.

“We are concerned at JLR plans to outsource production development to India and China, and the possibility of a production facility in China, which could pose a long-term threat to JLR in the UK,” Des Quinn, regional industrial organiser for Britain's largest union, Unite, has been quoted in a report. Tata Motors has been looking at ways to make JLR leaner and cost-effective and had said that its move to close one of the West Midlands plants was to achieve that aim.

Unions have also expressed concern about company's move to “integrate” the JLR brand name, saying, “The Tata management assured us two years back (before acquiring JLR) that Jaguar and Land Rover are iconic brands and the brand names will be protected.” They have also urged Tata to consider bringing the European version of the Nano to Castle Bromwich to stave off a potential shutdown.

Both Corus and JLR were acquired by the Tata Group — Tata Steel and Tata Motors — at the peak of economic activity, but were caught in a demand downswing on the back of a slowdown in Europe, putting pressure on the workforce. The Corus staff had been protesting after bosses told them they would not pay bonuses for the first quarter of this financial year. However, they will now be given double bonuses on their next payday. About 4,500 Corus steelworkers in Scunthorpe are to receive a bonus worth over £1,000 per employee before Christmas.