New working practices due to be introduced at Honda have caused unrest among some workers.

Honda management had wanted to increase the variable working week from the present 25 to 42 hours to 25 to 44 by the end of the year, in time for a new car to be built in Swindon.

But this was refused by the Associate Representative Council, despite the fact that there was more money on the table.

The management then withdrew the offer and showed a video presentation to the workforce explaining why the negotiations failed.

In a letter to the Advertiser, from one of the employees, who did not want to be named, said: “Talks collapsed with neither side able to come to agreement.

“This was a disappointment as the ARC had succeeded in getting improved concessions from Honda after many meetings.”

Another worker wrote in and claimed there was no overtime paid now and the workforce at the South Marston factory was being dictated to by the management.

“I know we were paid when the factory was closed but we never asked to be laid off and we never asked to be paid,” he said. “It wasn’t the workers’ fault that the country went into recession.”

A spokesman for Honda confirmed there had been negotiations with their Associate Representative Council over the additional overtime hours but no changes had been made to the current policy.

This is Honda’s 25th year in Swindon and the factory hopes to build a new car at the South Marston plant in the autumn, which will bring more than 300 new jobs with it. The car is the new Civic with the current model being gently wound up. The 300-plus jobs, added to the 500-plus new jobs at the B&Q warehouse opposite, will bring 1,000 new jobs to Swindon in 2011.

Three years ago, Honda employed 5,000 people and built more than 230,000 vehicles in a year.

Post-recession, which saw the factory close its production lines for four months, there are 3,000 people working at the plant and they will build 140,000 in the current financial year, of which more than 60 per cent will be exported.

Honda is still regarded as one of the best places to work in the town when it comes to pay and conditions. The basic pay of a worker on the line is on average £22,000, plus health and pension schemes.

After an employee has been there for three years they are entitled to a car lease scheme where they can change their veicles every 15 months.