Angry factory scenes as BMW cuts 850 Mini jobs

Another day, another blow for jobs in the car industry. Today BMW has added to the woes by cutting 850 jobs and reducing its working time at its Mini factory.

The job cuts all affect agency staff rather than permanent workers. Agency workers make up the bulk of employees on the weekend shifts, which will end in two weeks' time when the Oxford plant goes to a five day rather than seven day operation.

Agency workers have made up a bigger proportion of the workforce at the Mini plant than they do at many other car factories, although they all use agency employees to some extent. For the agency workers themselves it means that they can have very short notice about the loss of work even though they may have worked at the factory for some time. It is not surprising therefore that the unions are stepping up the pressure over the casualisation of work.

But equally employers in these exceptional economic times have to cut costs to survive.

Unions and employers have both been lobbying the Government to contribute towards the pay of workers facing short-time working in the current crisis. Both sides cite other countries, such as Germany, where this help is offered, in order to keep people in jobs and retain skills in the industry. So far there has been no movement.

Neither, yet, has there been a release of credit to the carmakers’ finance arms in order to stimulate sales.

In the absence of these supports while the downturn persists, cuts such as these at BMW will continue.

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