TRW on Wednesday afternoon confirmed 156 jobs – of 638 – will be axed at its brake factory in Pontypool, Wales, over the next 12 months.
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Plant manager Steve Stott said: “These reductions are essential in order to align employee levels with our volume of business. The automotive industry is highly competitive and we must ensure that we have the right cost base. This is a difficult decision but a necessary one in order to improve our competitiveness.”
There had been mounting fears in the local community, where the TRW factory is the largest employer, that the plant would close by 2007.
The company was earlier reported to have told workers they must accept the 156 redundancies, work longer for less pay, or the brake manufacturing plant would close in two years.
Local politicians had reacted with dismay to claims that the major employer in Pontypool had started negotiations with workers over the potential job losses.
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By GlobalDataSpeaking after a meeting with trade union officials, but before TRW confirmed the 156 jobs cut, Welsh Assembly member Lynne Neagle said: “Employees at the Pontypool plant have been given a business plan by local managers which sets out two fairly bleak options for the future of the factory.
“The first option amounts to a winding down operation, with the factory closing in 2007. The second option involves 156 redundancies at the plant, along with a series of unfavourable changes to working conditions – [but with no] guarantees about the survival of the plant beyond 2007.”
Local member of the UK parliament Paul Murphy said: ” I cannot understand the logic of TRW’s second option – it is offering workers, with a deterioration of working conditions, including longer hours for less pay, but without accompanying guarantees for the factory beyond 2007.
“There is clearly still a market for automotive brake parts in Europe, we now have to make the case for that work to stay in Pontypool and not [be] transferred to a cheaper producer elsewhere in Europe.”
In a statement earlier this month covering the company’s performance over the first half of 2005, which included closing two American plants, TRW president and CEO John Plant said: “We believe the higher level of restructuring we plan to incur this year will better position the company to maintain its competitive position over the long term.”
Robin Roberts
