STAFF at Honda are not being treated fairly and the attitude of the company needs to improve, a union has claimed.

Unite, Britain’s largest union, has told the car manufacturer based in Swindon it is ‘treating employees with contempt’ and risks a total breakdown in relations.

The union – which has strong relations and working agreements with all the main automotive manufacturers including Toyota and Nissan – says Honda must now ‘catch up with the rest of the industry.’

The warning came after union reps at the plant in Swindon – where the Civic and CR-V are produced – highlighted concerns.

However, Honda has said the claims come as a complete surprise and are not reflective of the current situation.

Unite claim their shop stewards have been refused permission by managers to attend meetings, and say they have been obstructed efforts to represent employees at disciplinary or grievance headings.

Stewards have also previously had to fight for the correct payment of overtime rates and even campaign for employee access to drinking water, according to the damning report.

It has also been alleged reps have reported a failure of company human resources to properly investigate legitimate grievances and a failure to respond to emails from Unite officers.

Tony Murphy, Unite national officer for car manufacturing, said: “The UK automotive industry is a real success story based on good industrial relations, and employers and union reps working together.

“Sadly Honda pay lip service to the union, its reps and its own workforce. The company needs to enter the 21st century with the rest of the industry.

“Honda appears to be muddling along from crisis to crisis, then expecting the union to step in and put things right.”

The Swindon site employs nearly 3,500 people and produces 120,000 cars a year, though it once topped 250,000 before the global recession in 2008.

“Honda’s attitude towards us can be highlighted by the fact that over the last five years the company has got rid of every senior member of HR who has tried to genuinely work with the union," said Mr Murphy.

“Also the health and safety on site leaves much to be desired. We recently had to call the HSE after a very bad near miss.

“Both the members and the union have reached the end of the line and will not hesitate to do whatever it deems necessary to force Honda to meet our aspirations to be an equal partner and to have a proper say in the terms and conditions of our members.

"This includes working conditions and the health and safety of the employees.”

Jason Smith, director at Honda of the UK manufacturing, said: "We consider our working relationship with the local Unite team to be constructive and are therefore surprised to see the comments made by Unite.

“Honda employees are the driving force behind our 30 year success in Swindon and we value the voice and opinions of both our employees and their representatives to help inform business decisions.”

However one employee has rubbished Honda's response. 

They said: "This has been going on for an awful long time. 

"Even the managers are baffled by the attitude of the company and treatment of staff. The communication is diabolical."