Peugeot workers in Coventry in strike ballot

Workers at Peugeot's parts division in Coventry are to be balloted on strike action over performance-related pay, the Unite union said.



Warehouse workers rejected a 4% offer for 2012 because the deal included plans to link part of the 2013 offer to individual performance, the union said.

Unite said a strike could cause serious disruption to the supply of parts.

Peugeot said at the end of pay talks in January the union had recommended members vote in favour of its offer.

More than 170 manual workers are based at the Tile Hill warehouse.

'Open to abuse'

Unite national officer for the automotive industry, Roger Maddison, said it was going to fight to prevent "the introduction of this unfair pay policy".

He added: "Performance-related pay is subjective and open to abuse, which can allow bosses to reward staff for the wrong reasons.

"In our experience, performance-related pay is not about rewarding workers fairly, it is often used as a way to keep the pay bill down, unless you're a city banker."

The union added it had informed managers that it intended to ballot members for strike action over "the company's insistence on introducing performance-related pay".

Peugeot said the company had offered assurances that any bonus element would not exceed a small proportion of the total pay offer and gave as an example the figure of "just 0.5% of the proposed basic pay increase, presently offered at 4%".

In a statement, the firm said its manual workforce had been offered a 4% basic pay increase with effect from 1 January this year and an improvement to sick pay.

The offer was conditional upon the company and the union working together to jointly agree the terms of an individual bonus for introduction in 2013, the firm added.

Peugeot said it had offered assurances that the union "would be fully involved in agreeing objective assessment criteria".

About 300 staff employees in the company's headquarters in Stoke Aldermoor, which includes administration, sales and marketing workers, had voted to accept the firm's offer, Peugeot added.

Wow, I didn't realise there was still anything of Peugeot left in Coventry.....

Wow, I didn't realise there was still anything of Peugeot left in Coventry.....

Yeah, they still have significant parts and distribution centres on the city, but no manufacturing facilities.

It seems I may have spoken too soon?

Peugeot staff in Coventry fear for future

WORKERS at Peugeot in Coventry fear their jobs are at risk amid growing concerns for the future of the company.

Staff are worried about the threat of redundancies at the car maker’s sites in Tile Hill and Stoke.

Peugeot had planned to move its parts division from Torrington Avenue, Tile Hill, to Prologis Park, in Ryton.

But workers have now been told that move will not go ahead because of the firm’s mounting debts. Staff fear that could mean job losses.

Talks are also now being held over a plan to move the company’s Citroen UK arm, based in Slough, to Peugeot’s UK headquarters in Humber Road and bosses have admitted that could lead to a reduction in staff.

The French car maker – which stopped making cars at Ryton in 2006 with the loss of 2,000 jobs – has spiralling debts which have almost tripled to £2.8billion over the last six months.

A letter marked ‘urgent’ to has been sent to Coventry workers, saying: “It is not proving possible to find prospective buyers of the Tile Hill site at a price that would make the relocation project viable. As a result of these factors, the decision to move to Ryton has been revised.”

The plan is still to sell the Tile Hill site to a developer but with the workforce moved to another part of the site, which the company would lease back.

The letter also states a “major cost control programme” has been launched and “staffing levels will be recalculated”.

It has also prompted fresh fears of job cuts to the 170-workforce at Tile Hill who have recently been offered voluntary redundancy.

One worker said: “There are talks with the union about 100 jobs to go from the Peugeot and Citroen head office.

"We know many of us will be going - it’s just a matter of when. It’s the younger ones I feel sorry for. They’re really worried. There is no morale among the workforce anymore.

"The company want to get rid of us. They have offered people voluntary redundancy.”

Andrew Didlick, director of public relations at Peugeot, said: “We’re not now going to move the parts division to Ryton.

"The debt for the group did increase over the last 12 months and that’s why we’re not moving to Ryton.

"We offered voluntary redundancies in October last year. Nothing has changed since then. We’re not ruling out any job cuts.

“There is a large reorganisation taking place and a consolidation process to move Citroen UK to Coventry. It makes more sense to run the business on one site and it will mean a reduction in head count. For certain roles on two sites we won’t need as many.”

Workers at the parts division in Tile Hill may strike over performance-related pay which could cause major disruption to the supply of parts.

Unite is holding a ballot for industrial action asking members to vote on a possible strike.

Workers rejected a four per cent offer for 2012 because the deal included plans to link part of the 2013 offer to individual performance.

In a letter to members, Unite national officer Roger Maddison, said: “I informed the company that unless they withdraw their demands that performance pay remains part of their final offer, I will be holding a postal ballot for industrial action.

"I am sorry to say the company refused to make such a change, therefore the legal ballot will be processed.”