JCB to reduce production 19%; workers balloted over hours

JCB workers are being balloted over proposals to reduce their working hours as part of a bid to safeguard 330 jobs.

The plant manufacturer said it was in talks with the GMB union over the proposals and a vote would be held in the middle of next week.

The move comes as JCB revealed that it will have to reduce production by 19% because of the deteriorating financial climate.

The two options open to workers are:

1) A shorter working week, which would safeguard around two thirds of the 500 jobs under threat. However around 170 jobs could still be lost.

2) Working hours remain the same, which could see as many as 500 posts made redundant.

In a statement, the manufacturer said: "JCB has this week been holding extensive discussions with the GMB union about the impact on the business caused by the deepening financial crisis.

"JCB’s dealers and customers around the world are reducing the number of machines they are ordering, predominantly because of low business confidence. In addition, dealers and customers are also finding it more difficult to finance machine purchases and tighter mortgage availability is hitting housing industry customers.

"As a result JCB has to align its production with current demand which means reducing output across UK operations by 19% for the remainder of the year and into 2009.

"GMB union members will next week vote on two options to achieve this reduction: either to agree to around 500 redundancies which will realign production to demand or to agree to a shorter working week, which would reduce redundancies by about two thirds."