Land Rover workers vote for 'road map'

Workers at British motor giant Land Rover have accepted changes in working practices aimed at securing the future of their factory, it was announced today.

Members of the Transport and General Workers Union and Amicus backed the so-called road map for the plant at Solihull, West Midlands, by 63%.

The changes are designed to improve efficiency and quality at the site, which employs thousands of workers.

Tony Murphy, national officer of Amicus said: “We are delighted with the ballot result and will be pressing for the company to follow this with commitments for greater investment at the plant and a solid declaration that further models will be sourced from Solihull.”

The union’s officer for Land Rover in Solihull, Tim Parker, said the outcome of the ballot had been affected by the decision to end production of Jaguar cars at the Browns Lane factory in Coventry. Land Rover and Jaguar are both owned by Ford.

“Ford will need to work hard to convince a sceptical workforce that their agreements securing the future of their plants are real and firm guarantees.”

More than 2,000 Land Rover workers voted against the road map in a ballot of more than 6,000 shop floor workers.