WORKERS attending for the Monday night shift at the General Motors van plant in Luton were shocked to be informed that all production would be stopped from the second shift the following Tuesday afternoon.
The night shift was told by management not to attend for work on Tuesday night and to ring the plant after 10am on Wednesday to find out if they were required that night.
In a leaflet handed out to the workforce, management claimed that the closure of the plant was caused by a strike in France by Wagon Sonas, who supply body parts for the Renault van produced at Luton.
Management went on to say that days lost due to this industrial action would be treated as ‘down days’ under an agreement with the Unite union that allows management to halt production for a specified number of days a year.
Workers were incensed at this use of down days to cover production lost because of strike action by a supplier.
Under previous union agreements covering security of earnings any loss of production caused by external factors such as this did not incur any loss of pay.
Under the down days system the Luton workforce will be required to make up the time they have been laid off.
One worker told News Line: ‘Phoning in to find out if you have a job of work that night means we are being treated like casual labour to be hired or laid off at the will of management.’
The closure on Tuesday afternoon coincided with a visit by Magna International representatives to the plant as part of the ‘due diligence process’ being undertaken by Magna in sizing up GM’s European operation before making a concrete proposal to buy.
Another worker, Kenny told News Line: ‘They are going to close the plant.
‘We have got to defend our jobs and families and way of life.
‘We must have a mass meeting today and decide to occupy the plant and start a national campaign to see that it is nationalised.
‘We must take action.
‘The union leaders are worthless.
‘When I heard Woodley saying about the LDV van bankruptcy that the union and the government could not do any more than they did to save it, that was like a death sentence for our jobs, and our plant.
‘Magna was in the plant last night, no doubt making an inventory for the asset stripping operation.
‘We are going to have to struggle for our jobs. We have got to get rid of our do nothing union leaders.
We will have to give the lead.
‘We need an occupation and we need to have GM Vauxhall, at Luton and Ellesmere Port, nationalised.’
After hearing that LDV had gone into administration, Unite co-leader Woodley issued the following statement:
‘This is a bitter blow for manufacturing and the West Midlands region in particular.
‘However, LDV has been in a vulnerable situation for many years and today’s sad announcement is not due to any lack of effort by either Unite or the government to find solutions.’