A MONTH after Honda handed out letters to all of its associates informing them that they are at risk of losing their jobs, the consultation process is moving towards a critical stage.

Honda is currently in talks with employee representatives to work out their selection process for prospective redundancies.

Yesterday the company held talks with Jill Annal, from Jobcentre Plus, who has been appointed to run the Task Force and ensure that the multiple responses are delivered quickly and effectively.

As well as Job Centre Plus, Honda is also holding monthly meetings with Swindon’s two MPs, Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland, Forward Swindon, Swindon Council, the Skills Funding Agency, the department for Business Innovation And Skills and Business West.

Speaking after the meeting, Jilll said: “Everything is progressing as we would expect at the moment. “We are very much in the development stage and have to tread quite carefully because there are individuals there that are facing very difficult situations.”

The people who will be chosen for the axe will be selected on a variety of issues which will count towards an end score, including the quality of their work, their company standards, length of service, time keeping, disciplinary record and previous appraisals.

There will be no dismissals before April 22, and Honda has said that it is committed to retaining its key talent and ensuring appropriate selection criteria is developed to support this.

Honda, which goes to a single shift on Monday, February 25, expects that associates who have been provisionally selected for redundancy will be informed towards the end of this month.

A Honda spokesman said: “Since the start of the consultation process, we have been impressed by the support provided by the Task Force and are looking forward to developing this relationship so that we can fully support our associates during this difficult time.”

Unite is representing about 3,000 of the employees at the car giant and has set out three aims, which include reducing the number of redundancies, mitigating redundancies and then resolution.

Jim D’Avila, Unite’s regional organiser, said: “We will be pressing Honda incredibly hard to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.

“We’ll be pulling no punches under the banner of ‘Honda jobs for Honda associates’ to make sure that Honda workers are able to take over work currently carried out by contractors.”