JCB goes back full-time but redundancy worries grow

HUNDREDS of JCB workers who sacrificed pay to save jobs have returned to full-time working – amid fears of more redundancies.

JCB Heavy Products, just off the A50 in Beamhurst, Uttoxeter, remained on a shorter working week after staff at sister factories resumed full-time working in May.

But before the summer shutdown the 350 employees at the site voted to join their co-workers at other plants in returning to a 39-hour week by a 71 per cent majority.

They restarted their normal working pattern on Monday.

Union leaders praised workers for voting for a cut in hours to save jobs.

But they expressed concerns that the return to full-time working could put further jobs at risk.

A JCB spokesman dismissed claims of further redundancies as 'pure speculation' and said there were no impending further job losses.

GMB shop steward Gordon Richardson said: "There has been no confirmation of any further impending redundancies and we are hoping there won't be any more, but we haven't been given a 100 per cent guarantee.

"We are very proud of the work our members have done at Heavy Products, especially as they have been on 34 hours for such a long time.

"We appreciate their sacrifice and understand the reasoning for going back to full-time working."

A Heavy Products worker, who asked not to be named, said: "We took a vote just before the shutdown to either stay on a 34-hour week and have no redundancies or go on 39 hours but maybe lose another 50 men.

"Unfortunately 71 per cent of my colleagues voted to go back onto 39 hours and lose more men, just for an extra £30 a week. I personally wanted to stay on 34 hours and lose no men.

"The fact that management and office workers haven't taken the same cuts is an extra kick in the teeth."

JCB has axed around 1,600 jobs in the past 12 months after the credit crunch took its toll on the construction industry. It now employs around 4,000 people in Staffordshire.

Community leaders have welcomed the return to full-time working.

Cheadle Mayor Julie Bull, whose son Bryan was laid off by JCB in October, said: "I know a lot of workers who have been on a four-day week have really been feeling the pinch. I hope it is a good sign and an indication that things are picking up."