Protect world-class workforce

Unite has said today (October 14) it will oppose any compulsory redundancies in ongoing redundancy consultations with the iconic luxury sports car manufacturer, Aston Martin, over proposed job losses.

 
Unite has major concerns over the significant levels of job losses proposed. Warwickshire based Aston Martin has said it wants to ‘rebalance and restructure’ the company and has proposed between 295 to 314 redundancies, which amounts to 15 per cent of the total workforce of 2,100 employees.

 
Unite members’ roles vary and the vast majority of jobs affected will be in salaried staff roles such as administration, professional and managerial areas largely based at the company’s main Gaydon, Warwickshire, manufacturing site.

 
“Aston Martin has two priceless assets: its global brand name as a British world-class producer of iconic luxury sports cars and, just as importantly, their highly skilled world-class workforce that contribute massively to the design and production of these fabulous cars,” said Unite regional officer Tim Parker.

 
“We believe that both of these priceless assets are equally important in securing a successful future for this iconic British UK based world-class business,” he added.

 
Parker explained that they were currently in talks with the company on reducing the overall total number of job losses in the reorganised structure.

 
“Unite is opposed to any compulsory redundancies and insist that any job losses should only take place by means of voluntary redundancies, early retirements and ending the use of external consultancy contract staff,” he said.