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Nissan bosses 'refusing redundancies'

Bosses at Nissan’s Sunderland plant have put a freeze on staff applying for redundancy because they have been inundated by requests.

The car giant announced in January that it was axing 1,200 jobs at its Sunderland plant - 400 workers on temporary contracts and 800 permanent staff.

The firm began a 90-day consultation period with a committee of management, works council members and representatives from the Unite union.

The committee drew up a compensation package for workers taking voluntary redundancy, which was outlined to staff early last month.

But the company has announced that it has been forced to call a temporary halt to redundancy applications while it considered the impact of releasing those workers who have already applied to leave.

“Nissan Sunderland Plant has temporarily suspended applications from staff for the voluntary redundancy package agreed by the Joint Consultation Committee at the beginning of February,” the firm said in a statement.

“The suspension will allow a review of existing applications to take place. In order to achieve the voluntary redundancy, a significant relocation of staff is needed and the transfer of skills within the plant needs to be fully assessed. The response to the voluntary redundancy package from employees has been positive and it remains the committee’s aim to manage the right-sizing activity at Sunderland on a voluntary basis.”

However, managers underlined the fact that the positive response to the call for voluntary redundancies did not mean it could rule out the possibility of compulsory job cuts - even on top of those which have already been announced.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .