A delegation of Jaguar workers from the stricken Brown’s Lane plant in Coventry will protest against Ford at the launch of its new Focus subcompact in Paris next week.
The labour unions claimed their members’ jobs were being compromised after the Coventry plant was mismanaged. On Tuesday, members voted to engage in industrial action to save the plant.
One union spokesman said: “We will take our fight wherever and do whatever it takes to get Ford to reverse their decision. Browns Lane is among the most productive and highest quality car plants in the Ford group and our members there do not deserve to lose their jobs.”
“Jaguar has been synonymous with the success of Coventry,” local politician Jim Cunningham said.
“Ford need to know that they cannot go around unilaterally breaking agreements because they’ve hit a bad patch in the trading cycle. When a company enters into an agreement with its workforce and unions it should honour it.”
Last Friday, Jaguar’s parent company Ford announced that it would cease its vehicle production at the historic Brown’s Lane plant in September 2005. It also announced that Jaguar’s F1 team would not be competing in the 2005 championship.