Some 3,900 production staff at Peugeot's Ryton car plant have agreed to cut their earnings by up to 20% in order to save 700 jobs in an unusual job sharing deal.
The French car company, whose European sales are down 5.7% this year, according to new figures released yesterday, took on the extra 700 workers when it introduced a fourth shift at the plant near Coventry last November.
But sales of the 206, built at Ryton, have since fallen sharply, forcing Peugeot to cut back on plans to expand output to 230,000 units a year.
Under the terms of their contracts the 700 new staff could have been dismissed.
The French company, which has a history of fraught industrial relations at Ryton and has postponed a £250m investment for a new car, agreed to retain them if staff accepted the work sharing deal.
Duncan Simpson, the Amicus union's chief car industry negotiator, said 67% of the workforce had backed the deal in a secret ballot, a "refreshing" result showing both a healthy trade union attitude and a positive approach from management.
Ryton, once open for seven full days a week, will see a cut in the basic 36 hours and 45 minutes a week worked from September, with most of the workforce taking a 3-4% pay cut.
Employees on the fourth shift, involving unsocial hours such as Saturday nights and Sundays, will see their hours reduced further and their pay, the highest in the plant, cut by up to 20%.
John Bewick, the personnel director, said workers on the fourth shift would see their hours cut by more than eight to 28 hours a week, while others had accepted a one hour cut. All four shifts will receive the same rates of pay.
"They have voted to share the pain rather than see 700 people thrown on the scrapheap," Mr Simpson said, pointing out that overall European car sales this year were likely to be 1m down against last year's 17.2m.
Ford, also hit by a 4.4% drop in European sales so far this year, has said it is cutting back production by 80,000 units and warned of a new round of cost cuts on the way.
Yesterday the ACEA, the manufacturers' body, said European sales rose 2.9% last month but that the first half of 2003 had seen a 2.6% decline to 7.6m. The UK is the only market holding up, Mr Simpson said.
