100 workers face axe at Nissan supply company

Jan 8 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

AS new figures revealed the lowest slump in car sales for 12 years yesterday, almost 100 skilled workers at a firm which supplies Nissan were facing redundancy.

Sunderland-based Unipres, which presses parts for Nissan’s Wearside factory, has announced plans to axe 96 full-time jobs just weeks after telling 200 temporary workers their services would no longer be required.

The company is initially asking for voluntary redundancies, although union representatives last night said it was unlikely that 96 workers would come forward and accept a redundancy package voluntarily.

The Japanese firm blamed the global economic climate for the job cuts and the plunge in demand for cars amid tighter financial conditions for consumers.

Unite spokesperson Brian Cole said the company and its workforce, which is heavily reliant on Nissan for orders, was suffering from a lack of communication from the neighbouring car manufacturing giant.

He also said the well-paid and specialist nature of the jobs which will be lost are such that it will be difficult for those made redundant to find equivalent roles in other manufacturing sectors.

“Things aren’t looking so bright in the car manufacturing sector. The major concern is that there’s not much information coming out of Nissan and the company’s work load is centred around Nissan,” Mr Cole said. “They are asking for 96 voluntary redundancies but I don’t think they will get enough.”

Meanwhile, Alan Hall, regional director of manufacturers’ organisation EEF, last night said that the axed workers could adapt their specialist skills set to the more successful oil and gas sector.

He added: “Nissan is a very important hub for the region and there are so many companies in the region in Nissan’s supply chain.

“Unipres employs highly-skilled production staff but I would think that with that level of skill base they have will be well sought after by engineering companies.

“Although manufacturing is being affected by the economic downturn, there are still job opportunities in other parts of the sector such as oil and gas which is particularly buoyant at the moment.”

Unipres’s announcement came amid gloomy figures for the motor industry yesterday which recorded new car sales dipping to their lowest annual level since 1996. Total new registrations reached 2,131,795 in 2008 – 11.3% down on the 2007 figure, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

The figure could have been even worse if the December 2008 new-car total of 108,691 had been as bad as feared.

But the SMMT forecast that annual sales, which were as high as 2.4 million in 2007, would slip to around 1.78 million in 2009 – the lowest total since 1992.