Honda announced 500 job cuts at its Swindon factory yesterday, just months after union leaders agreed to pay cuts in a deal to save 500 jobs.
The union leaders said that the pay cut was agreed in order to aid the employer, in the hope that this would safeguard jobs at the plant.
This hope has now been dashed.
More than 1,300 jobs have already been axed at the plant, which was also closed for two months earlier in the year.
Honda said yesterday that another 500 of the remaining 3,400 workers had to go, but claimed that there would be no compulsory redundancies.
Unite officer Jim D’Avila described the planned sackings as ‘a serious setback for Honda’s recovery’.
He warned that many of the workers are very angry because they believe the money saved by the pay cuts is being used to fund redundancies.
‘We’ve made an agreement with the company in good faith.
‘We will be seeking to have the pay cut reinstated because the company has no longer honoured the intention of our negotiations, which was to safeguard 500 jobs.
‘The deal that we struck with them earlier this year was to protect almost 500 jobs in exchange for a pay cut.
‘If they are now saying they are not going to protect those jobs then we want the pay cut to be reinstated. Not only that – the money should be backdated.
‘People looking at this situation will think we have been conned.
‘They see that we took a pay cut to save 500 jobs and now the company is using that money to up the redundancy package.
‘I’m sure Honda doesn’t want to be seen like that and I hope they will reconsider.
‘We want to work with them – that’s why we agreed the pay cut in the first place.’
Earlier this year, the Honda factory closed for the whole of February and March as part of a plan to reduce the number of vehicles produced at the Wiltshire plant.
At the time, the company said this was due to the slowing in global demand.
• It was announced yesterday that the UK trade deficit widened more than expected in September, led by a jump in car imports, as Britain’s scrappage scheme helped foreign carmakers.
The difference between what the UK exports and what it imports was £7.2 billion in September, well above analysts’ expectations of a £6.1 billion deficit.
Imports of overseas-made cars jumped by 30 per cent during the month, said the Office for National Statistics.
September’s overall trade deficit was the biggest since January.
