Jaguar Land Rover Confirm the Loss of 500 Jobs at Halewood Factory in Merseyside
With the UK car industry already experiencing some difficulties for a variety of political and consumer-related factors, the announced job losses are another blow to the industry. From April 2020, the factory will be implementing a new shift pattern, which is the reason for the 500 workers losing their jobs. April will see the factory change from a three shift to a 'two-plus' shift pattern; this means that instead of working early, late and night shifts workers will now only work early or late shifts.
Inside the JLR Halewood factory with a line up of Land Rovers
Why the shift change?
A representative from JLR said in a statement that the change is all "about efficiency, not loss of volume" and that JLR "is taking action to optimise performance, enable sustainable growth and safeguard the long-term success of our business."
The change in shift patterns is hoped to "deliver significant operating efficiencies at the plant, while enabling us to meet the growing customer demand for our new Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport."
Employees have also been offered the opportunity of a voluntary redundancy, with applications opening in early February and an expected leave date on 10 April.
Change in Market, the Government, Brexit?!
Jaguar Land Rover products are high end, and carry a list price that reflects that. So how has a World famous manufacture of luxury cars found itself making a loss? The British economy has been in a state of uncertainty for some time now, what with the 'B' word looming over us for the last three years. Arguably, the car industry has received some of the biggest blows due to many of our cars being imported from the EU.
Des Quinn, the national officer for the union Unite, said "This is a further blow to the UK car industry and to our members at Halewood... until the government ensures there is long-term frictionless trade and no tariffs with the European Union, the UK's car industry will continue to experience severe challenges."
The JLR Halewood Operations factory
