Action looms at Land Rover over jobs axe; SHOP STEWARDS IN PLEDGE TO REVERSE DECISION TO TRANSFER PRODUCTION.

Byline: COLIN LEWIS and STEWART SMITH 

ANGRY Land Rover shop stewards have pledged a campaign of action to reverse the decision to axe 1,000 jobs and transfer them to Merseyside.

But the final decision on whether to back the campaign with strike action will not be made until after the summer holiday shutdown in about three weeks.

This was the result of a meeting between full-time union officials and shop stewards at the Solihull factory in the wake of the shock decision to build the next Freelander model at Ford's Jaguar plant at Halewood, Liverpool.

The management decision has been seen as a reaction to the Solihull plant's failure to agree to changes in working practices and to achieve better quality standards.

But shops stewards are angry that the decision reneges on a management agreement to keep Solihull as the "primary site" for 4x4 Land Rover production.

They also said that the plant had achieved "best-in-class" working practices - better that any other Ford-owned plant in the UK.

National Amicus official, Duncan Simpson, said: "The workforce feel angered and betrayed by the company's decision."

However, there has been criticism of the Solihull workforce from some industry gurus.

Prof Kumar Bhattacharyya, of Warwick University's International Manufacturing Group, said employees at the Lode Lane factory needed to improve and improve fast in delivering higher productivity and quality or risk the long term future.

His views were endorsed by another industry expert, Professor Garel Rhys, of Cardiff Business School, who said: 'Hopefully this will serve as a wake up call.

"Nobody is owed a living and the choice out there is immense for the consumer who will go for the best combination of price and quality."

Reaction to the news that Freelander production would be moved to Halewood was, hardly surprisingly, favourable.

A new model at the Merseyside plant could help to secure jobs at the Jaguar factory.

Union officials said it showed confidence in the Halewood workforce and the vastly improved industrial relations at the old Ford plant.

But at the same time they were sympathetic with Solihull workforce which faced severe job losses.

Jaguar Halewood plant chief Colin Tivey said today: "When your management is based in the West Midlands it would be easy to hand this work to one of their plants.

"The fact they have decided to place it in a site 90 miles up the motorway is a tremendous boost for this area.

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CRITICISM: Prof Kumar Bhattacharyya