Archive for the ‘cowley’ tag
Don’t blame the government – nobody’s buying
The news that BMW is cutting 850 jobs at its Cowley plant doesn’t come as much of a shock to anyone I wouldn’t have thought. Apart, it seems, to union leaders.
Despite the fact that the past quarter showed a fall of around a third in new car sales, it seems the union dinosaurs can’t help themselves when it comes to slagging off the government, the manufacturer, and anyone else who perhaps ever bought, drove or looked at a Mini.
In most businesses, if people stop buying your product, you have to cut costs. BMW will make less cars, cutting the working week from 7 to 5 days, and therefore need less people to make them. As a business with shareholders, they have a responsibility to them first and foremost; paying workers to sit around idle to avoid the wrath of union leaders is not only a catastrophic business decision, but it is also just plain daft.
The workers that are getting the chop are mainly agency workers I understand, and the unions have branded the decision a “disgrace”, as they accuse BMW of picking them as they are easier to sack as they have no rights, despite the fact that some of them have been employed as agency workers for 5 years or more.
I think it works both ways. They had jobs, often at a higher rate of pay than if they had been officially employed by the company, for around 5 years in a very competitive industry. If they had been promised anything by the unions then that is wrong, but I can’t believe that they expected special treatment at a time when the parking lots at Cowley must be a sea of steel.
I hope they get all the support they need, but to expect to walk into another manufacturing job is not realistic, so they must be prepared to re-skill where necessary. And in future, like the rest of us, be prepared for the worst at the start of each day.