A worried dad-of-four has been left without work just days before Christmas after his contract was ended at Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) Halewood plant.
Yesterday the ECHO reported that dozens of agency workers were summoned to a meeting with JLR bosses to be told their contracts would end just three days before Christmas. The group had hoped they would be employed until at least April and beyond.
One of those to lose their jobs was dad-of-four Lee, who asked us to only use his first name. Lee has worked on agency contracts at JLR for more than four years.
READ MORE: Job losses and cut backs announced days before Christmas at Jaguar Land Rover
His latest assignment at the factory began on October 1 and he shared documents with the ECHO which indicated the contract was expected to run until April 1 at least, so it was a huge shock to Lee and his colleagues to be told they would be leaving the plant on December 22.
Lee explained: "We were told in October that the agency contract would continue until April so it was a real shock for it to end just four days before Christmas. They told us our job would end the next day but then we had to go back to work and come in the next day in order to be paid in January."
Lee said he and around 50 other agency staff were called into a meeting on December 21 to be told they would not be required after the following day's work. He said it was "humiliating" to be told his job was ending just days before Christmas but that he would only be paid in January if he finished that same shift and the final one the following day.
The dad, from the Kirkby area, has four children - including two under the age of two - and is now worried about providing for them. He said: "It's really tough at Christmas, with young kids - I've already applied for a few positions but with places shutting down for a while I will be left short."
Karen Games commented on the ECHO's story about JLR to say her son had also been let go from his contract at the Halewood Plant. She said: "My son is one of them, he is so hard working and reliable it’s sad."
Speaking about the ending of the agency contracts, a spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover said: "As is normal business practice Jaguar Land Rover regularly takes on temporary agency personnel to provide extra, flexible support when required. The requirement for a temporary workforce has now changed resulting in a reduction in agency assignments.”
As well as agency contracts being cut short, JLR have also just announced significant cutbacks to shifts for its permanent workers.
Workers at the plant have been told that in January 2023 the number of shifts available will be cut. While the Halewood plant currently operates two daily shifts, this will be cut back to just one from January 16.
Not only does this mean that workers will have less shifts available, but the single day shifts will also not attract a shift premium that is currently paid, representing a potentially significant loss to those staff members.
A message sent by the Halewood Leadership Team to staff said it currently foresees the plant operating on a single, day shift basis until the end of March 2023, with further updates to follow.
One staff member, who has worked at the Halewood plant for eight years, explained what this will mean for him and others. He told the ECHO: "For the last 3 months or so we've worked on a 'week on, week off' basis, with us still being split into 2 shifts, A and B. If we were in we got shift premium, if we weren't we got flat rate. From January 16 we'll still be on the same shift pattern but without the shift premium, meaning everyone is paid the same regardless of whether we're in or not.
"It was bad enough losing the shift pay every other week, this pay is around £120 a week on average. Now we're losing it every week. That's nearly £500 a month for some people. Some of us are having to take on gig work to make up the shortfall."
JLR is being hit hard by a global shortage of semi-conductors that is causing major problems for the automotive industry.
A spokesperson for the company said: "We continue to actively manage the operational patterns of our manufacturing plants whilst the industry experiences global semi-conductor supply chain disruption. Demand for our vehicles remains strong and we expect our performance to continue improving in the second half of our financial year, as new agreements with semiconductor partners take effect. "
“This year Jaguar Land Rover activated the second-year terms of its Pay and Conditions agreement with employees, which saw colleagues awarded an inflation-beating 12.6% basic pay increase to mitigate rising living costs.”
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