Talks to avert industrial action at JLR plants in UK

Workers who deliver auto parts to three Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) factories in the UK are holding talks with their firms to avert industrial action over a pay row that could bring production at these plants to a standstill.

Unite, the workers' union, had held a ballot among its members and decided to stage half an hour stoppages at the start of each shift next Wednesday at two JLR car plants in the West Midlands and one at Halewood on Merseyside.

The industrial action will also include a ban on overtime on August 28 and 29 over a pay row with employment agencies delivering supplies to the three plants and a key distribution centre at Ellesmere Port.

"Negotiations are ongoing and Unite hopes to reach an agreed resolution," a Unite spokesperson said, adding that a meeting with employers today would determine the future course of action.

Unite could have called an all-out strike at the sites after about 3,500 members at staffing agencies - DHL, Staffline, NAC and Milestone, including 900 at Halewood - voted in favour of a strike, or action short of a strike but said that it was keen on a settlement.

"We will be continuing to push for a settlement which ends low pay and exploitation while delivering permanency for agency workers. Unite has given seven days notice of industrial action to DHL and other agencies providing services to JLR plants.

"The law insists that the union must take industrial action within 28 days of a ballot. The union will, therefore, take minimum action to allow talks to continue while keeping our mandate for action alive so negotiations can continue," the Unite spokesperson said.