Around 200 shop stewards have rejected a ‘disappointing’ three-year pay deal worth around 14 per cent – and a ballot of 18,000 workers for action could follow.
Five days of talks between unions and management broke up without agreement amid concerns over cuts to pensions, starter rates and bonus payments.
Unions are now consulting with thousands of workers at Solihull, Castle Bromwich, Halewood and elsewhere ahead of a potential ballot. The conflict comes as the Queen prepares to open JLR’s new £500 million engine plant near Wolverhampton on Thursday.
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had offered 3.6 per cent plus a bonus payment of £825 in the first year with the Retail Price Index plus 0.5 per cent or three per cent (whichever is greater) for the subsequent two years.
But the offer was overwhelmingly rejected by 200 shop stewards after five days of talks broke up with no agreement in sight.
Unite regional secretary Des Quinn said: “We are very disappointed with the company’s offer at a time when they are making millions of pounds a day. We believe they could have gone further to address members’ concerns and we will now consult the workforce.
“We hope that the company comes back and revisits the situation and tries to make progress on what is a difficult subject matter.”
Shop stewards are concerned that one-off bonus payments do not impact on pensions while there are also fears about some changes to working practices and starter pay and conditions.
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Unions are also angry at proposed changes to the JLR defined contribution pension scheme which they say would reduce accrual rates. A source said: “It was just felt that there was too much stuff in there that was unacceptable for different people, such as new starters, plus pensions and some were looking for a bigger rise.”
A JLR spokesman said: “Our offer was based on a desire to appropriately reward our workforce for their contribution to Jaguar Land Rover’s success whilst balancing the longer term needs to deliver sustainable business growth.”