Unite, the UK’s largest trade union, has urged Warwickshire car maker Aston Martin to reconsider plans to cut almost a fifth of its workforce.
On Thursday June 4 Aston Martin announced plans to cut up to 500 jobs as part of a plan to try to return to profit.
The company replaced its chief executive last month and said then that the coronvirus crisis had hit hard.
The number of vehicles sold almost halved in the first three months of the year.
Thursday’s statement said a new strategy intended to deliver £10m in operating savings each year.
Unite has called on Aston Martin to reconsider the scale and number of the proposed 500 job losses.
Aston Martin has a total workforce of 2,600, but Unite says that the threatened losses will fall almost entirely on the company’s Gaydon plant which employs about 1,600 people.
Sports car production is centred in Gaydon, with a new factory in St Athan, South Wales, producing the new DBX SUV.
Unite said that the job losses were a result of the company’s ‘dire’ financial situation.
Unite regional officer Tim Parker said: “This is a really cruel blow to the workers and their families, as well as a massive hit to the West Midlands economy and the supply chain.
“We can ill-afford to lose such highly skilled, world-class manufacturing workers.
“We urge the company to reconsider the scale and number of the redundancies during the 45-day consultation period as the UK economy will need their highly-prized skills once the pandemic recedes.”
Mr Parker also called for a voluntary redundancy programme and government intervention.
He said: “We will oppose any compulsory redundancies and any job losses should be achieved via voluntary means.
“We also call on the UK Government to provide financial support and investment for Aston Martin to protect the future of this UK-based world class sports car manufacturer and the thousands of jobs that rely on it through the UK components chain.”
He added: “At the same time as Aston Martin has been making use of the taxpayer-funded job retention scheme to furlough the majority of the workforce, it is now planning to throw a third of the Gaydon workforce onto the scrapheap – we think that is repugnant.
“The job losses have come about due to the company’s dire financial situation, despite a 25 per cent stake taken by a consortium led by billionaire Lawrence Stroll.
“This has been made worse by the coronavirus emergency which has badly hit the luxury sports car market.
“We can’t allow jobs at this iconic British company to be sacrificed on the altar of short-termism – we need to plan now for the post-pandemic economy and getting rid of Aston Martin workers is not a good start for achieving that goal.”
Announcing the proposed job cuts Aston Martin said in a statement: “The plan requires a fundamental reset which includes a planned reduction in front-engined sports car production to rebalance supply to demand.
“The company’s first SUV, DBX, remains on track for deliveries in the summer and has a strong order book.”
“The measures announced today will right-size the organisational structure and bring the cost base into line with reduced sports car production levels, consistent with restoring profitability.”
The Gaydon-based company added: “Aston Martin will shortly launch a consultation process on proposals to reduce employee numbers by up to 500, reflecting lower than originally planned production volumes and improved productivity across the business.”
