Angry casual BMW Mini workers clash with union officials
Angry agency staff have confronted union officials at BMW's Mini Cowley plant in Oxford, after the carmaker confirmed 850 job cuts at the site.
Casual staff, who had been laid off with immediate effect, threw fruit at leaders of the Unite union, claiming they felt betrayed.
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, described BMW's treatment of the workers as "disgraceful".
The site will now close for a week, and weekend working has been scrapped.
A BMW spokesperson said weekend workers had effectively been given a week's notice as they would be paid for next weekend as well.
The carmaker also said it had identified 150 surplus workers at its Mini plant in Swindon.
The workers would be offered a transfer to work in Oxford, it added.
'Cannon fodder'
Mr Woodley said Unite had demanded an "urgent meeting" with the chairman of BMW.
"It is unacceptable that workers can be viewed as cannon fodder when a company needs shelter from recession," he added.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform said it intended "to launch a consultation in the near future about how the UK will implement the Agency Workers Directive".
Job losses
Work at the Cowley plant will not restart until 23 February. The changing shift patterns, and the resulting job losses, will come into force on 2 March.
"Mini plant Oxford will be bringing in a new shift pattern in response to continuing volatile market conditions," a BMW statement said.
The Cowley plant shut down for four weeks at Christmas
"As of Monday 2 March, the plant will go from a three-shift to a two-shift pattern, operating five days per week instead of the current seven."
"The company regrets that this change will result in the release of around 850 agency workers from the business," it added.
BMW had said that all staff at the factory, including remaining agency workers, would be paid their basic wages during the closure.
However, many agency workers said they were unclear what the future held after being told the weekend shift had been axed.
'A disgrace'
Javid Najibi said he had been told to leave after four years at the plant and that he was likely to get no payout.
CUTTING BACK
Aston Martin: Extended Christmas shutdown and 600 redundancies. Temporary three-day week began in January
Bentley: Worked a three-day week in October and longer Christmas break. Closing Crewe plant for seven weeks from the beginning of March
GM (Vauxhall): Extended Christmas closure and 40-day shutdown
Honda: Four-month shutdown between February and May
Jaguar Land Rover: Series of one-day shutdowns and production cuts late 2008 plus 450 redundancies planned
Nissan: Two-week shutdown late last year and 1,200 redundancies
"It's bad news for everybody. There's no work any more for the weekend shift. No-one knows about the future plans," he said.
Another agency worker told the BBC that he felt like a "second class" employee compared to the permanent staff.
"It's a disgrace," he said.
"I've worked here for three-and-a-half years and now I'm being sacked for no reason. I've been used."
A Mini spokesperson had confirmed at the weekend that the company was in discussions with Unite union representatives over changes to shift patterns at the plant.
"Our first priority is to communicate with the workforce," the spokesperson had said.
'Angry and upset'
However, staff were angry about the way in which they were told about their job losses.
Bernard Moss, from the union Unite said: "[The workers] obviously weren't very happy and the biggest issue was being told one hour from the end of the shift that they hadn't got a job."
Reaction from workers to the job losses
Worker Silvia Fernandes said: "I've been here for four years and I've never been sick, I've never missed work and they tell me one hour before that I've been sacked. That's not on.
"That's why people are angry and so upset with BMW and the union."
The company's 4,500 staff had returned to work on 5 January after an extended four-week Christmas holiday.
In December, 300 agency staff were told there would be no more work for them at the plant after the Christmas holiday.
Global slowdown
BMW, like most carmakers across the world, has been struggling in the face of falling sales during the economic downturn.
Overall, BMW sales fell by 4.3% in 2008, to 1.4 million vehicles, although Mini sales actually rose by 4.3% last year, to 232,425 cars.
The carmaker is the latest in a long line of car manufacturers in the UK to announce plant closures and redundancies.
For example, Honda has closed its plant in Swindon for four months between February and May.
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