Millions of pounds’ worth of Land Rovers are being lost due to a campaign of industrial disruption, union militants claimed, according to a recent report in Birmingham’s Evening Mail newspaper.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The unionists told the paper the best-selling Freelander is worst-hit with workers sitting idle for hours at the vast Solihull plant.
Land Rover owner Ford recently decided to shift production of the next generation 2005 Freelander to the Jaguar X-type plant at Halewood, near Liverpool.
The unions sources also reportedly claimed that blanket overtime bans and withdrawal of flexible working time arrangements by the workforce have also badly hit Discovery output.
According to the Evening Mail, Land Rover management admitted the production had been stopping on some days, but denied it was as a result of the action and was instead caused by “logistical issues”.
An unidentified shop steward told the paper that the usual 1,600 Freelanders rolling off the line was down by up to a quarter on normal production schedules and added that the overtime ban was cutting the number of bodies being sent through into the main assembly areas while there were also blockages in the paint shop.
“The line on Freelander is stopping for two to three hours for many shifts because they cannot cope. They are struggling in the body assembly areas to get the bodies in quickly enough. There is a backlog of materials going into the plant. It must be costing millions and I can’t understand why the company has not come back to the negotiating table,” the shop steward told the paper.
Land Rover spokeswoman Kay Francis reportedly said: “We are experiencing some periods on the line where we are not running, but it is not because of the dispute or action – it is logistical issues.”
