Honda factory to close for two months (From Swindon Advertiser)

I have also been told there's going to be a lot of redundancies (from a Honda employee).

Raif Barnes wrote:
I have also been told there's going to be a lot of redundancies (from a Honda employee).

That is complete rubbish. My husband has called me to advise of the situation and at no point have Handa advised of any redundancies. Jobs are still safe, and also staff will be paid basic salary for time off.

I do wish people would stop scare mungering and get facts right.

Of course the company will pay people to stay at home for 2 months

Get real what sort of company can do that? the downturn is now something that will last for few months but for a good year and plus, so do we really expect Honda to keep paying their employees to stay at home for 12months +, one word: Dreamland

And will the staff be paid? Even if its just a retained wage.

If not what benefits will they be entitled to and will Swindon DWP office have enough staff to cover the increased workload to ensure that families are not waiting months for money.
ith less than a month till christmas and in the middle of a recession this doesnt give families much time to 'store' for the coming hard times.

Apologies, my post was written before the above two posted.
If correct I am very glad to hear families will be paid basic.

nelle2705 wrote:

Raif Barnes wrote: I have also been told there's going to be a lot of redundancies (from a Honda employee).

That is complete rubbish. My husband has called me to advise of the situation and at no point have Handa advised of any redundancies. Jobs are still safe, and also staff will be paid basic salary for time off. I do wish people would stop scare mungering and get facts right.

Sorry, but I have just spoken to a Honda employee and he confirmed that there will be redundancies. Perhaps your husband ha snot been told at this time.

My contact has also when the factory reopens in April the production will be limited and only likely to get back into full swing in July.

Please keep your personal insults to yourself Nelle, stop being so childish. Believe me I have no interest in scare mongering, I am passing on information that I have been told.

I think a "watch this space" atttitude would be more appropriate than going off on one.

I work for honda and in fact the news was broken last night at 23.30pm. it states that car plant 1-2 will have feb and march off and will be on days thereafter. it states that the company is trying to avoid job losses and anybody of the correct age can look at early retirement and anybody interested in a career break/ personal development leave will be considered. there has been no official statement regarding redundancies. most of Honda is riddled with rumours from a friend who knows something. stick to the facts and worry about redundancies when Honda makes an anouncement. There are a lot of people who will be affected in some way so chinese whispers are dangerous stick to the facts.

I heard Toyota have brought Honda and they are going to shut the swindon factory down by the end on 2010.

News just in, workers will be paid in Sushi and Noodles during the 2 month shut down

I don't really think this is anything to joke about

figgis wrote:
I work for honda and in fact the news was broken last night at 23.30pm. it states that car plant 1-2 will have feb and march off and will be on days thereafter. it states that the company is trying to avoid job losses and anybody of the correct age can look at early retirement and anybody interested in a career break/ personal development leave will be considered. there has been no official statement regarding redundancies. most of Honda is riddled with rumours from a friend who knows something. stick to the facts and worry about redundancies when Honda makes an anouncement. There are a lot of people who will be affected in some way so chinese whispers are dangerous stick to the facts.

Thank you so much for your comment. And yes you are right about whispa's. I did try telling people earlier that the comments were incorrect. Thanks again.. You have made me worry a little less now.

Raif Barnes - there are two Honda's in South Marston: Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd and Honda Connectors Ltd. Are you sure it's the car maker?

Al Smith wrote:
Raif Barnes - there are two Honda's in South Marston: Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd and Honda Connectors Ltd. Are you sure it's the car maker?

Yes very sure ...

NO EURO....NO HONDA.
Honda WILL be CLOSING late
next year.

Watch this space.

Al Smith wrote:
Raif Barnes - there are two Honda's in South Marston: Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd and Honda Connectors Ltd. Are you sure it's the car maker?

don't be a complete donut AL! of course it's the car plant! don't you recollect the recent hoo ha about Honda driving lorry loads of new cars through Wroughton to park them up on the airfield because they can't sell them in the current economic climate!

Well said 'figgis'. My husband is also an employee at Honda UK. Totally agree with everything you have quoted!

malkym1 wrote:

Al Smith wrote:
Raif Barnes - there are two Honda's in South Marston: Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd and Honda Connectors Ltd. Are you sure it's the car maker?

don't be a complete donut AL! of course it's the car plant! don't you recollect the recent hoo ha about Honda driving lorry loads of new cars through Wroughton to park them up on the airfield because they can't sell them in the current economic climate!

Jam filled or ring? I'm asking Ralf in case he's got the two confused. You know, bloke down the pub works in S. Marston for Honda says xyz, trouble is people assume it's Honda cars...

When we set up the factory in Swindon, it seemed that they were going to join the euro," Chief Executive Takeo Fukui told a news conference.

"But because that isn’t happening, we may need to come up with other options to supply Europe," he said.

LOOKS BLEAK DONT IT

looks like a new housing estate will be takin its place very soon ..

Honda today announced a plan to adjust automobile production at its UK factory in Swindon for the current fiscal year in response to a dramatic change in the global automobile market.

In addition to 32,000 units production adjustment between December 2008 and March 2009 that had previously been announced, production at Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd (HUM) will be further adjusted by 21,000 units. This will be achieved by suspending production for 29 days during the months of February and March 2009, combined with 13 non-production days previously planned in this period. Therefore HUM will stop all vehicle production in February and March 2009. There are no plans for redundancies.

Total automobile production in the U.K. plant for the current fiscal year, which was originally announced as 228,000 units at the beginning of the fiscal year, will be adjusted to 175,000 units.

More details here
http://www.gazettean
dherald.co.uk/news/t
owns/wiltshire/38669
33.Wiltshire_car_fac
tory_to_close_for_tw
o_months/

BWB wrote:
When we set up the factory in Swindon, it seemed that they were going to join the euro," Chief Executive Takeo Fukui told a news conference. "But because that isn’t happening, we may need to come up with other options to supply Europe," he said. LOOKS BLEAK DONT IT

No, not really. Did you actually see the rest of his speech? Yes, investment will be cut, but Mr Fukui made it quite clear they had no plans to pull Honda out of the UK.

Stop scaremongering.

if they are closing for 2 months it is obvious that they will look to cut the workforce.that doesn't= compulsary redundancys though.i would guess that some people will lose their jobs as the recession deepens.alot of my friends work there and they fear the worse.it's not scaremongering, it is a sign of the times.

I'm a Honda Worker, there has been no news on payment for the 2 months off and no talk of redundancies.

I costs a lot of money to make people redundant and even more to train new people.

The factory is not closing the Jazz is being built in Swindon as of Oct next year and there is a large team working on it now in the plant.

Time are bleak, but with any luck we will get through this.

well i work at honda on blue shift and we had a meeting this morning to say what was happening
basically we got feb and march of which will be paid basic monthly pay
we will then owe honda the hours which we have had off which is think is 280 but not sure then when and if we pick back up we work extra e.g overtime free
they said at the mo there will be no redundancies

Sorry but we are not in the middle of a recession this is only the start.

I think Honda will be ok but I can't see them paying people to stay home for too long.

First of all I don't live in Swindon any more although still regard it as being my home town. I work for an Edinburgh based investment company specialising in Japan. Colleagues here have met with Toyota and Honda senior management during the course of this week. There is no prospect of takeovers/mergers between the two rival companies. Both have been hit by unprecedented reductions in global demand for cars. Obviously this is a scary time for those working for Honda and indeed for the town as a whole. And let's face it, with Christmas coming up it's particularly tough. But the company does seem committed to Swindon and the UK and the Jazz news is positive for the medium term. Also, the Euro argument has actually reversed. Given that the pound is so weak against the Euro it's a great time to be manufacturing in the UK and selling into Europe. Fingers crossed that everything works out OK.

LordBelacqua wrote:

BWB wrote: When we set up the factory in Swindon, it seemed that they were going to join the euro," Chief Executive Takeo Fukui told a news conference. "But because that isn’t happening, we may need to come up with other options to supply Europe," he said. LOOKS BLEAK DONT IT

No, not really. Did you actually see the rest of his speech? Yes, investment will be cut, but Mr Fukui made it quite clear they had no plans to pull Honda out of the UK. Stop scaremongering.

Ho come on.
Is ut really scaremongering to
to state the truth?.
It does look BLEAK.
It certainly does not look ROSY.
Is it hard for you to accept the
truth.

BWB wrote:

LordBelacqua wrote:

BWB wrote: When we set up the factory in Swindon, it seemed that they were going to join the euro," Chief Executive Takeo Fukui told a news conference. "But because that isn’t happening, we may need to come up with other options to supply Europe," he said. LOOKS BLEAK DONT IT

No, not really. Did you actually see the rest of his speech? Yes, investment will be cut, but Mr Fukui made it quite clear they had no plans to pull Honda out of the UK. Stop scaremongering.

Ho come on. Is ut really scaremongering to to state the truth?. It does look BLEAK. It certainly does not look ROSY. Is it hard for you to accept the truth.

No, when that truth is unbiased.

Selective quoting can indicate anything you want it to - in your case, to make it appear as if Honda has intentions of leaving the UK - which, frankly, they haven't.

not good

honda wont need to make any redundancies because they will use there scare tactics in there and sack people for stupid things and then this way the public wont see the workforce being reduced , there is people in there with final written warnings and management are just waiting for them to do something wrong and they will be sacked ! hence no redundancies , if ur a honda worker u all know what im on about !

i used to work @ honda and was told back in july that honda needed to shed 400+ jobs but they wanted to do this with out redundencies. To do this they were gonna start coming down hard on time keeping, sickness and any mistakes could result in sackings. Of course this was just a rumuor.
In september i and a friend were sacked by honda after a robot failed. i wont go into detail but this was my 1st mistake in 8 years and i can only describe this action as extremely harsh. i would not of been sacked for this if it had happened a year or 2 ago, So it would seem that maybe the rumour is true after all, as ive heard of several other incidents of people being sacked for genuine mistakes.
So to all u people who have friends or family working at honda.if honda are over staffed in anyway they will get rid of them, maybe not redundencies but some how

Lord B still alive - and come to think of it what happened to Emmy Lou from Stratton - got bored ??

exactly bradders , u know what im saying then , glad i dont work there now !

let me say there is a lot of rumour rubbish on here,i who have attended meetings and am in management of a supplier to hum can say that the future is still good.The new civic models and jazz coming to swindon is all ready in place and the 2 months lay off is a better way of prepering the plant than 3 and 4 day weeks etc.HUM is the most efficent Honda palnt outside japan. Will HUM keep its suppliers a float during 2 months closedown as they need them to still do business for the new civic and jazz ?

bradders wrote:
i used to work @ honda and was told back in july that honda needed to shed 400+ jobs but they wanted to do this with out redundencies. To do this they were gonna start coming down hard on time keeping, sickness and any mistakes could result in sackings. Of course this was just a rumuor.
In september i and a friend were sacked by honda after a robot failed. i wont go into detail but this was my 1st mistake in 8 years and i can only describe this action as extremely harsh. i would not of been sacked for this if it had happened a year or 2 ago, So it would seem that maybe the rumour is true after all, as ive heard of several other incidents of people being sacked for genuine mistakes.
So to all u people who have friends or family working at honda.if honda are over staffed in anyway they will get rid of them, maybe not redundencies but some how

bradders, if i remember the incident you were sacked for it was gross misconduct and falsification of your documents such as your start up check sheets. And could the result of the problem you missed not resulted in either scrap cars or recalls. If this had happened it would not have improved Honda car sales but lucky for all the customers it was caught within the factory. but I may be wrong about the incident. Any way how many car manufacturers are cutting production without cutting the jobs. So thank Honda for trying to keep people jobs alive.

These are times that I think we all have to used to the reports of firms reducing their output.
Thank your lucky stars you Honda employees that you are not one of your suppliers,this down time will hit them harder and even could put them out of business.The way I see it is this, you have had a very good run of regular work and probably foriegn holdays and good Christmases on the back of your employer, and now there is a national blip with no fault to Honda.Being an ex employer of BL/Rover we went through similar and uncertain times (to the glee of the adver).One thing in business is to remember always be prepared for change.

malkym1 wrote:
Lord B still alive - and come to think of it what happened to Emmy Lou from Stratton - got bored ??

I got bored of it very quickly. It ceased being debating and started becoming mudslinging, and really, I don't need it.

Besides, my job keeps me away from a computer most of the time these days.

Honda being fair it is only general associates that are being sent home what about all the co-ordinators and managers and what about taking away all the fancy new laptops, mobile phone's for office based staff who are allowed to use them for personel calls the free cars for managers that way the workers might just stand a chance of keeping our jobs and a roof over our heads.Section Managers on average earn £40k a year that would pay 2.2 associates come on Honda get less top heavy!!!!!!!!

wiltsman wrote:

bradders wrote: i used to work @ honda and was told back in july that honda needed to shed 400+ jobs but they wanted to do this with out redundencies. To do this they were gonna start coming down hard on time keeping, sickness and any mistakes could result in sackings. Of course this was just a rumuor. In september i and a friend were sacked by honda after a robot failed. i wont go into detail but this was my 1st mistake in 8 years and i can only describe this action as extremely harsh. i would not of been sacked for this if it had happened a year or 2 ago, So it would seem that maybe the rumour is true after all, as ive heard of several other incidents of people being sacked for genuine mistakes. So to all u people who have friends or family working at honda.if honda are over staffed in anyway they will get rid of them, maybe not redundencies but some how

bradders, if i remember the incident you were sacked for it was gross misconduct and falsification of your documents such as your start up check sheets. And could the result of the problem you missed not resulted in either scrap cars or recalls. If this had happened it would not have improved Honda car sales but lucky for all the customers it was caught within the factory. but I may be wrong about the incident. Any way how many car manufacturers are cutting production without cutting the jobs. So thank Honda for trying to keep people jobs alive.

i do thank honda for keeping peoples jobs alive because there is nothing out there at the moment, so god help swindon if honda was to shed jobs cus the hole town would be in the sxxx. i now have 3 week old baby and no job and mortgage to pay,i'm 35 ive worked hard for 19 years of my life both at BMW and honda with out incident to be sacked the way i was, was in my eyes harsh. i just hope no one else has to go through this cus its hard.

bradders, good luck to you, fair play and all the best - difficult times for all - even 'bankers' - rhymes with - should't joke - think the media have a lot to answer for!!!!

bradders wrote:

wiltsman wrote:

bradders wrote: i used to work @ honda and was told back in july that honda needed to shed 400+ jobs but they wanted to do this with out redundencies. To do this they were gonna start coming down hard on time keeping, sickness and any mistakes could result in sackings. Of course this was just a rumuor. In september i and a friend were sacked by honda after a robot failed. i wont go into detail but this was my 1st mistake in 8 years and i can only describe this action as extremely harsh. i would not of been sacked for this if it had happened a year or 2 ago, So it would seem that maybe the rumour is true after all, as ive heard of several other incidents of people being sacked for genuine mistakes. So to all u people who have friends or family working at honda.if honda are over staffed in anyway they will get rid of them, maybe not redundencies but some how

bradders, if i remember the incident you were sacked for it was gross misconduct and falsification of your documents such as your start up check sheets. And could the result of the problem you missed not resulted in either scrap cars or recalls. If this had happened it would not have improved Honda car sales but lucky for all the customers it was caught within the factory. but I may be wrong about the incident. Any way how many car manufacturers are cutting production without cutting the jobs. So thank Honda for trying to keep people jobs alive.

i do thank honda for keeping peoples jobs alive because there is nothing out there at the moment, so god help swindon if honda was to shed jobs cus the hole town would be in the sxxx. i now have 3 week old baby and no job and mortgage to pay,i'm 35 ive worked hard for 19 years of my life both at BMW and honda with out incident to be sacked the way i was, was in my eyes harsh. i just hope no one else has to go through this cus its hard.

Bradders
You were not doing your job correctly and you got caught,if i remember rightly,your actions cost the company 10`s of thousands of pounds to rectify...if this had not been put right in house and the cars had gone into the market place the repercussions would have been catastrophic, not only would the reputation of the majority of hard workin workers been at risk but also Honda could have been sued following an accident.
Stop bleating about being unfairly treated,you probably were not carrying out your process for a number of years without being caught.
Hopefully,many more like yourself will get found out and we can start to rebuild with genuine hard working people who are proud to work for a good company.

I just hope that potential posters will realise, as debatable as this subject seems,that approx 20% of swindon is affected by this issue, there have already been reports of violence - colleague to colleague so lets just please keep things ok

I just hope that potential posters will realise, as debatable as this subject seems,that approx 20% of swindon is affected by this issue, there have already been reports of violence - colleague to colleague so lets just please keep things ok

i work at honda and it is very sad in what is happening but at the moment im very grateful ive got a job to go to

LordBelacqua wrote:

BWB wrote:

LordBelacqua wrote:

BWB wrote: When we set up the factory in Swindon, it seemed that they were going to join the euro," Chief Executive Takeo Fukui told a news conference. "But because that isn’t happening, we may need to come up with other options to supply Europe," he said. LOOKS BLEAK DONT IT

No, not really. Did you actually see the rest of his speech? Yes, investment will be cut, but Mr Fukui made it quite clear they had no plans to pull Honda out of the UK. Stop scaremongering.

Ho come on. Is ut really scaremongering to to state the truth?. It does look BLEAK. It certainly does not look ROSY. Is it hard for you to accept the truth.

No, when that truth is unbiased. Selective quoting can indicate anything you want it to - in your case, to make it appear as if Honda has intentions of leaving the UK - which, frankly, they haven't.

Lord B.
What makes you so sure of your statement. Honda would not make any
future intention made public until
they had finalised it.So at presant
no one can be sure of their future intentions.No doubt their suppliers
will know before we do because they have contracts with them.
Also,before they start production again,they first have to sell the cars that are dumped in various
fields. I still say things look
bleak.

swinwilts wrote:

bradders wrote:

wiltsman wrote:

bradders wrote: i used to work @ honda and was told back in july that honda needed to shed 400+ jobs but they wanted to do this with out redundencies. To do this they were gonna start coming down hard on time keeping, sickness and any mistakes could result in sackings. Of course this was just a rumuor. In september i and a friend were sacked by honda after a robot failed. i wont go into detail but this was my 1st mistake in 8 years and i can only describe this action as extremely harsh. i would not of been sacked for this if it had happened a year or 2 ago, So it would seem that maybe the rumour is true after all, as ive heard of several other incidents of people being sacked for genuine mistakes. So to all u people who have friends or family working at honda.if honda are over staffed in anyway they will get rid of them, maybe not redundencies but some how

bradders, if i remember the incident you were sacked for it was gross misconduct and falsification of your documents such as your start up check sheets. And could the result of the problem you missed not resulted in either scrap cars or recalls. If this had happened it would not have improved Honda car sales but lucky for all the customers it was caught within the factory. but I may be wrong about the incident. Any way how many car manufacturers are cutting production without cutting the jobs. So thank Honda for trying to keep people jobs alive.

i do thank honda for keeping peoples jobs alive because there is nothing out there at the moment, so god help swindon if honda was to shed jobs cus the hole town would be in the sxxx. i now have 3 week old baby and no job and mortgage to pay,i'm 35 ive worked hard for 19 years of my life both at BMW and honda with out incident to be sacked the way i was, was in my eyes harsh. i just hope no one else has to go through this cus its hard.

Bradders You were not doing your job correctly and you got caught,if i remember rightly,your actions cost the company 10`s of thousands of pounds to rectify...if this had not been put right in house and the cars had gone into the market place the repercussions would have been catastrophic, not only would the reputation of the majority of hard workin workers been at risk but also Honda could have been sued following an accident. Stop bleating about being unfairly treated,you probably were not carrying out your process for a number of years without being caught. Hopefully,many more like yourself will get found out and we can start to rebuild with genuine hard working people who are proud to work for a good company.

If you no the case so well you may also no that a shift manager and a team leader also built some of those cars 40+ infact yet they still have jobs.. hence my frustration.
I hope honda gets through this as i have some great friends in there, hardworking family people who deserve the right to earn a living so good luck to them.

yes they did build the cars as mentioned but unlike your good self,they did not falsify the check sheets which are in place for a simple reason.....Quality checks...hope you have learnt your lesson

I have worked at Honda for 18 years, I am not a Manager but I am a team Leader.
When I started there were only 180 people working on site and I have seen the massive investment, expansion and the start up and subsequent huge rises in production.
During this time there have been numerous down turns and quality issues that have caused loss of production or the fear of redundancies. As yet it has not happened.
From my experiences I am confidant Honda will do it's utmost to get through this latest, albeit most serious economic downturn.
I am fortunate in having grown up children now, and have not had to rely on shift allowance or overtime in recent years to pay my bills, however it is no joke for many in the plant, who due to the massive house price rises and inflation in previous years, had no choice than to work extremely hard and anti-social hours, to provide for their families, I know I have been there.
There will always be rumours in a facility that employs almost 5000 people, however as on previous occasions, it is worth taking a step back and try to sort the fact from fiction.
The current model line up at Swindon, whilst good in affluent times, is not what is wanted by the customers at the present, as is the same for every other manufacturer in the UK. Only when the economy recovers and we start producing the much more popular and affordable Jazz models, will the situation change for the better.
In the meantime everyone who wants to remain will still have a job in readiness for this new model, after that, who knows, that is down to the customers who buy the vehicles we make.
With regard to some managers having fancy laptops etc, I agree a minority of them do abuse the system and I have seen phones used for personal use, but again it is not all of them, with many working behind the scenes dealing with associate welfare, future projects and trying to ensure production runs smoothly.
Finally I would like to wish everyone in the plant and those who supply the parts and services, right down to the cleaners and catering staff, all the best and lets hope we get through this as we have done in the past.

I have worked at Honda for nearly 14 years. Whilst this news is unsettling and worrying it is good to see a major company striving to keep its excellent workforce. Whilst redundancies have not been announced this doesnt mean it wont happen. The problem Honda faces is that if they do have redundancies, government law stipulates that they cant reemploy again for 2 years. If Honda got rid of say 1000 associates and the Jazz takes off next year Honda wont have the workforce to satisfy the demand so to keep associates on is the best option. Personally Honda will offer early retirement for people 55 and over, people that wish to leave and leave for personal development.

One area I think where they can reduce excess workers is the amount of dead wood that walks around the factory that are given jobs that have been magically created.

I have spoken to my ARC rep and he has ensured me that Honda will pay us for the months off work as long as the ARC and Union accept the proposed Annualised Working Hours Agreement which they say they will accept.

Rather have that than no job!

I have been at Honda for 16 years and have never known it this bad.Honda its self are not sure how things will go. They will get people out who have bad time and attendance and on warnings, some of them do not deserve this. . They need to get out managers and other people on £30,000 to £40,000 a year who do not really have a job but have made one for them. They have a very good work force and they know it. They do not want to get rid of them as if things pick up . And they will do one day they will need them. If we were working for any one else half of us would now be out of work for xmas. Lets all bite the bullet and hope things get better.

Firstly my friend the union can only listen to the proposal from Honda.The union will then come back with a proposal of their own on behalf of the membership within this plant.(Surveys have already been completed).It has to be acknowleged that both parties have a very difficult task ahead of them ensuring and safe guarding jobs and pay where ever possible.
There have been lots of nonsense about the pro's and cons of "lay off" with no pay,redundancies etc etc.Basically the employees will be mortgaging their futures to Honda in terms of the "Pay Back", paid time the associates are off.If you do the maths 320 hours is what the associates will have to pay back.
What happens if in six months time you want to leave,can you afford to pay back the 320 hours you will owe ? Honda also refer to the union as the ARC when in fact the old boys of the ARC , were anti union shop floor snouts for the management.The union has two guns to it's head ! Firstly the company pressure to accept "annulised" hours and secondly the associates pay packets. Quite frankly the vote for this will acceptance will be delivered through a union ballot.If the ballot reject the proposal then Honda will have to make a tough decision.Most of the associates in there feel like mushrooms but there is plenty of Fertilizer if you know what I mean.I hear that line 1 double slat has to be replaced due to the high number of claims Honda have against them for knee injuries.It will take six weeks to complete fortunate timing I say,the plot thickens.Before anyone starts bashing my opinion Honda is a great company but also the union have experts within the field of such these situations.Why were'nt they involved from the outset !