Workers at a Merseyside car parts business are voting on whether to go on strike after a union warned nearly 90 workers could be made redundant.
The Unite union has been balloting workers at the International Automotive Components (IAC) site in Halewood for strike action after news of planned redundancies emerged earlier this month. The US-based company makes parts for cars and its Halewood site supplied the nearby Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plant.
JLR recently reduced the number of shifts operating at its Halewood plant as it struggles with a global shortage of semi-conductors, which is causing major issues across the automotive industry. The car giant has moved from two regular shifts to one for at least the remainder of 2023.
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The ECHO has seen a notice sent from bosses at IAC to its Halewood workers advertising a Voluntary Redundancy Scheme as it also now moves to cut its shifts for workers.
The notice states: "Further to the recent communication from JLR confirming that they will continue a 1 shift setting for the remainder of 2023, IAC Halewood now need to reorganise the staffing structure to support the change. As such, we will consider applications from employees for a voluntary redundancy programme."
The notice states that requests for redundancy must be submitted by March 3, with applications considered subject to assessments.
We have also seen a message issued by Unite to workers which suggests that the company is looking to make 87 redundancies, with 83 of those likely to fall directly onto hourly workers at the site. The union has balloted for action and is expecting to announce a vote in favour of a walk-out tomorrow.
One shift worker at IAC Halewood, who asked to remain anonymous, told the ECHO: "We found out about the changes about three weeks ago, once again they are mostly falling on the shop floor.
"They are taking us down from two shifts to one which means we will lose the shift premium we used to get. That will take us down from £16 to £13 per hour which isn't good when everything is costing more and we have mortgages to pay."
He added: "Everyone is pretty fed up, the atmosphere is not good. We voted on strike action last week."
The ECHO has made several attempts to contact IAC but has not received a response.
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