Jaguar Land Rover to cut 4,000 jobs across worldwide operations over two years
Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western has raised concerns about Jaguar Land Rover’s recent announcement that it will be making 4,000 redundancies across its operations worldwide.
The cuts will happen over the next two years and will mostly affect the car manufacturer’s head office at Whitley in Coventry.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) also has local sites a Gaydon and Solihull.
Posting on his Facebook page on Sunday September 6, Mr Western said the news was “deeply concerning” and “will be extremely worrying for many staff and their families”.
He added: “The past 18 months have been seriously tough for the company battling the uncertainty of Trump’s tariffs those first few weeks in April last year and the challenges that have followed.
"Then the cyber attack which could have been even more serious but the company fought its way through.
“If they were not enough, there are further challenges and I will be writing to the Government about additional actions that I believe should be taken to support and protect our businesses - a position I sense the Secretary of State may share too.
“I am expecting a briefing from the company tomorrow [today, Monday September 7].”
The cyber-attack last year caused JLR, which has 43,000 employees globally, to shut down production for more than a month.
It has been said the car manufacturer is struggling with Chinese competition, US tariffs, and the transition to electric vehicles.
The company is making the redundancies in an attempt to save £1.7 billion over the next two years.
It is hoping to make the majority of the cuts through voluntary redundancy, with a window open until 4 October, but has said it would make compulsory redundancies with less generous terms if necessary.
Affected staff will know more in the coming days.
Chief executive PB Balaji has said JLR is "committed to supporting everyone with care, fairness and respect" through the redundancy process.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has announced he will be meeting JLR bosses this week to "mitigate any job losses", but he has ruled out a Government bailout for the company.
Mr Reynolds will also be working with the relevant trade unions over the matter.