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Honda says shutdown will not lead to redundancies

2:00pm Friday 21st November 2008 in


CAR giant Honda is to halt production at its South Marston plant for two months next year in the wake of the "dramatic change" in the global market, the firm announced today.

The plant will not produce any cars next February and March, although none of the 4,800 workers will be laid off.

The Japanese firm is the latest carmaker to scale back production because of the economic downturn, following previous announcements affecting production of cars including the Mini, Nissan and Land Rover models.

Honda had already planned to have 13 non-production days at Swindon next February but has decided to extend the cutback and will also scale back carmaking at two plants in Japan and the United States.

A company spokesman said there would no redundancies at Swindon and workers would still be paid. The plant produces the Civic and CR-V models and is due to start production of the small car Jazz next autumn.

The spokesman said Honda wanted to keep the workforce intact in readiness for the new car.

The company said in a statement: "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."

Honda said it was reducing car production at Swindon in the current financial year from an originally announced 228,000 units to 175,000 units.

Read tomorrow's Adver for fives pages on Honda, including workers' reaction, predictions for the future and an analysis of the crisis hitting the car industry.

Comments(23)

malkym1 says...
3:40pm Fri 21 Nov 08

HUM -I wonder!!

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Swinebone says...
3:52pm Fri 21 Nov 08

No wonder their cars are so expensive

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AGINGER says...
4:12pm Fri 21 Nov 08

OH, it will be pleasant in my garden with no stink .

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localgirl80 says...
4:36pm Fri 21 Nov 08

And if the rumour is true - Hell id like 2 months off work paid !!! (or does it come out of their holiday)

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AGINGER says...
4:55pm Fri 21 Nov 08

What do you think happened to all the men and women that worked on that land before the car maker came along, they made Aeroplanes then and no doubt their Grandchildren are making motor cars.

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swindontown says...
6:04pm Fri 21 Nov 08

localgirl, would you really like two months off under these curcumstances? It is not FULL pay, Honda pay is also made up of bonuses, which will not be paid, this means that people will loose in some cases more than £300 per month. This is a recession and those people who work at Honda are all concerned for their jobs, mortgages, and families. This is a very stressfull time for all. Certainly not a time for joking at other peoples expense. People commenting that it will be nice with no smell and no noise and such . . . think please what you are saying. There are some of us who will really struggle to make ends meet. As for people placing stupid rumours on here (I speak of the other article today where people talk of the factory closing) I would thank you to keep your scaremongering to yourselves! Yes I am getting worked up about this because it is my family, my home, my life. Please people, think what you are writing before you post! To any Honda workers reading this, and anyone else who is struggling in this difficult time, chin up, it has to end sometime surely!

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180 says...
6:08pm Fri 21 Nov 08

AGINGER wrote:
OH, it will be pleasant in my garden with no stink .
Sorry, but there more important issues here than the smell a major employer in the town leaves in your garden. Like the employees with a mortgage & children to feed wondering if they are going to have a job in 6 months time.

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Hondroid says...
6:46pm Fri 21 Nov 08

Honda's production forecast was we knew wildly exagerrated but we kept on pumping out the cars,enough stock to enable a complete shutdown for two months.Honda have taken advantage of this to pay us on condition we accept annualised hours-something they have wanted for a long time-so no more paid overtime.A small price to pay for keeping our jobs;maybe.I am not being ungrateful to the company but there is usually more than meets the press.

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Beardy Bloke says...
7:43pm Fri 21 Nov 08

Yes it is bad news for honda and all there employess, but will someone please spend a min to think about the 1000's of people that suply honda, because nobody seems to be talking about them. There are small companys all over the contry that supply honda and they will have to shut down too, and so far no one has been told if we are going to be payed or layed off.
4800 people work for Honda
there must be more than 10,000 people that supply Honda

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Parks and Proud says...
8:06pm Fri 21 Nov 08

Whats going to happen to all the temporary staff?

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bricksnblocks says...
8:53pm Fri 21 Nov 08

Honda employees want to be gratefull that they will receive a basic wage and being told they will retain a job.I am self employed and have been out of work for 3 months with no wages or help from our Govt.I'd love a job so i can pay my mortgage and bills. Some people just need to take stock of whats happening to others around them and stop whinging!!!!!!

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Grace Bee says...
10:15pm Fri 21 Nov 08

Well said bricks, I think, in this town that there's some sort of witch hunt and that people actually want Honda to fail - good luck to all

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longtermer says...
11:28pm Fri 21 Nov 08

I have worked for honda in swindon for many years and I was at the meeting when all this was announced and despite what the press states the management were asked will we get paid for all this time off and their words were "YES HOPEFULLY" so we are in limbo as to wether we will be able to pay our bills after xmas

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malkym1 says...
1:18am Sat 22 Nov 08

There is also the knock -on effect to consider - it's a traumatic time for all connected with the Honda manufacturing process -don't forget the 600 or so people at TS Tech in Highworth whose sole existence is to supply seats - headrests etc for honda cars - their employees must be worried too.

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Captain Sensible says...
7:27am Sat 22 Nov 08

Well well, what price SBC's plans to cover all our greenbelt land with legoland housing now eh? Just where exactly are all these people supposed to be working? As for temp staff I should imagine the through bus to Warsaw and Katowice will be pretty busy in the coming weeks.

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red manc says...
8:19am Sat 22 Nov 08

bricksnblocks wrote:
Honda employees want to be gratefull that they will receive a basic wage and being told they will retain a job.I am self employed and have been out of work for 3 months with no wages or help from our Govt.I'd love a job so i can pay my mortgage and bills. Some people just need to take stock of whats happening to others around them and stop whinging!!!!!!
well said bricksnblocks , i too am in the construction trade and am sick to death of no one worrying about the 150,000+ self employed british workers laid of sites in the last 3 months , but soon as theres trouble with car plants thats all you bloody see on the news .... people can live without cars but houses they cant ..

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PeeGee says...
9:08am Sat 22 Nov 08

red manc wrote:
bricksnblocks wrote: Honda employees want to be gratefull that they will receive a basic wage and being told they will retain a job.I am self employed and have been out of work for 3 months with no wages or help from our Govt.I'd love a job so i can pay my mortgage and bills. Some people just need to take stock of whats happening to others around them and stop whinging!!!!!!
well said bricksnblocks , i too am in the construction trade and am sick to death of no one worrying about the 150,000+ self employed british workers laid of sites in the last 3 months , but soon as theres trouble with car plants thats all you bloody see on the news .... people can live without cars but houses they cant ..
It was all over the news - 3 months+ ago. The construction sector still appears on the news regularly (it was on the 10 o'clock news last night).

As for your last remark - cars are like houses in that there are too many around which are unsold.

I am connected to the construction industry. However, I am directly employed by a large company. I could have chased the buck by contracting. However, if I did, I would be signing on by now. The construction industry has been greedy in the good times. Property prices have risen and wage demands increased likewise (a clue as to the influx of migrant workers perhaps?).

So, the building industry will get little sympathy compared to factory workers where the employer has a duty of care to their employees.

Being self-employed can have greater rewards but is a risky business in bad times.

I am not unsymapthetic. But, it is a different situation.

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Majorie Poops says...
1:40pm Sat 22 Nov 08

PeeGee wrote:
red manc wrote:
bricksnblocks wrote: Honda employees want to be gratefull that they will receive a basic wage and being told they will retain a job.I am self employed and have been out of work for 3 months with no wages or help from our Govt.I'd love a job so i can pay my mortgage and bills. Some people just need to take stock of whats happening to others around them and stop whinging!!!!!!
well said bricksnblocks , i too am in the construction trade and am sick to death of no one worrying about the 150,000+ self employed british workers laid of sites in the last 3 months , but soon as theres trouble with car plants thats all you bloody see on the news .... people can live without cars but houses they cant ..
It was all over the news - 3 months+ ago. The construction sector still appears on the news regularly (it was on the 10 o'clock news last night). As for your last remark - cars are like houses in that there are too many around which are unsold. I am connected to the construction industry. However, I am directly employed by a large company. I could have chased the buck by contracting. However, if I did, I would be signing on by now. The construction industry has been greedy in the good times. Property prices have risen and wage demands increased likewise (a clue as to the influx of migrant workers perhaps?). So, the building industry will get little sympathy compared to factory workers where the employer has a duty of care to their employees. Being self-employed can have greater rewards but is a risky business in bad times. I am not unsymapthetic. But, it is a different situation.
Totally agree about construction workers.

They got the money in the bank and now they are crying.

Empathy yes - but we are not sorry for their ill gotten gains.

Screw the builders - they laughed at people that decided to get educated while they opted out and bought a screwdriver.

Next time we need them, we'll pay them the wage they deserve. 6.50 ph

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Bobfm says...
5:57pm Sat 22 Nov 08

Poops, what a condescending post.

'Screw the builders - they laughed at people that decided to get educated while they opted out and bought a screwdriver.'

The skills required to work in the construction industry are usually well beyond the academic, they are highly skilled technicians in many trades including brickies who are much decried. Without builders building schools, colleges and universities where do you think academics would go to learn.

Many sectors are suffering at the moment, the difference when you are self employed is there are no benefits, aside from perhaps job seekers allowance. All sectors of the job market are as vital as any other don't knock those who are simply trying to care for their families. At least the Honda workers will have a pay packet over Christmas and the new year, 2 million people won't.

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figgis says...
9:24pm Sat 22 Nov 08

i work for Honda. it has come as no surprise to the people who work there that this has come around and i am truly grateful i will be getting paid for the 2 months off. The whole country sooner or later will be effected by the recession. its hard for anyone in work at the moment and i feel for anyone who loses out as a result. in the last recession i lost everything so i know the anxiety and stress that this brings. as for people who wish ill fate on Honda they are the biggest employer in swindion and they generate billions for the town and country in general. they also have at least the same amount of people working for supliers as in Honda itself, so anybody scaremongering or moaning about the smell tough my job and the towns prosperity and Hondas future are far more important than someones poxy roses.

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Captain Sensible says...
7:06am Sun 23 Nov 08

Look on the bright side, the traffic congestion in Stratton for the first 8 weeks of the New Year will be much improved.

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Bobfm says...
8:17am Sun 23 Nov 08

figgis well said. Some people just cannot see beyond their own narrow perception of life. If Honda or any other big employer, like Nationwide start to lay people off the knock on effect will be felt widely in the town.

In hospitality, Honda's and BMW's action will directly impact not just on food a drink sales, but on accommodation providers, like myself, also. A year ago I was at 90% occupancy Monday through Thursday and picked up 'shut down' bookings at Christmas and Summer. That simply isn't happening now with 60% occupancy being the 'norm'.

I sometimes wonder where the official accommodation figures for Swindon come from. I keep in contact with many local providers and most are fairing the same as we are and some a lot worse. There is one luxury establishment I know who are virtually giving their rooms away to keep staff employed.

Lets hope that things turn around pretty quick because the way things look now 2009 will not be a 'Happy New Year' for many employers, or employees, and with Gordon Brown seemingly living in fantasy land and about to launch an election there is very little 'feel good factor'. Brown knows he will lose the election so he's bailing out early, and leaving a new Government to sort out the mess his Government created.

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figgis says...
11:09am Sun 23 Nov 08

Totaly agree with that.The government have put us in this situation and the best they will come out with is patronising remarks about retraining. Also green issues and the pathetic cost of fuel is destroying the motor industry. the whole country is a stack of cards and if it caves in at the top then the bottom will go as well. Its not just Honda that are effected but those that would say good ridance to Honda i say be careful what you wish for and dont be soo foolish to not know when you have got it good.

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