THOUSANDS of car manufacturing job losses are on the horizon after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Ford announced redundancies and shake-ups today.

JLR is to cut 4,500 jobs across the company, with redundancies affecting admin, marketing and management roles.

The company, which employers 44,000 workers in Merseyside and the West Midlands, claims that deteriorating Chinese-US trade relations and “uncertainty” surrounding the Brexit negotiations have caused the company significant financial losses.

In the three months leading up to September 30, the car manufacturer recorded a £90 million pre-tax loss, compared to a £385m profit in the same period of 2017.

JLR also claimed that the introduction of new emissions standards across Europe had resulted in a fall in demand for diesel cars.

The job cuts are not expected to take effect until later in the year.

GMB vowed that unions would keep a close eye on developments and support members following JLR’s announcement.
 
Birmingham and West Midlands regional secretary Joe Morgan said: “The union is obviously concerned at the loss of 4,500 jobs worldwide from JLR but somewhat reassured that the company will be seeking voluntary rather than compulsory redundancies in Britain.
 
“We welcome the announcement of further investment in the Wolverhampton and Hams Hall sites but will be keeping a close eye on developments and offering our members advice and support where necessary.
 
“There will of course be further joint discussions between trade unions and management going forward.”

The redundancies at JLR comes as Ford also said “significant” cuts were on the way to its 50,000-strong European workforce.

The manufacturer will undertake a complete review of its European operations – but insisted that the announcement was not directly linked to Brexit.

Unite national officer Des Quinn said: “Ford’s workforce in Britain is world class in making and developing engines and gearboxes that are shipped all over the globe.

“Unite is positively engaging with Ford over its plans as we seek to safeguard jobs and look after the interests of all the company’s employees in Britain.”

Labour shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey added: “The government needs to realise that the automotive sector from factory floor and right across supply chains desperately needs tangible support, not warm words.”