"Many Photos" - Honda CONFIRMS Swindon factory closure with loss of 3,500 jobs

Honda today confirmed it is shutting its Swindon factory less than six months after bosses pledged support for the plant.

It comes one day after workers at the Wiltshire factory reacted angrily to the move at a time of turmoil for UK car manufacturing and fears over the impact of Brexit.

The decision to close its Swindon plant will jeopardise 3,500 jobs, although the employment losses are not expected until 2021. 

The entrance to the Honda car plant in the Wiltshire town of Swindon is pictured yesterday

Staff in the Wiltshire town - which voted 55 per cent in favour of Brexit in the 2016 referendum - said they were angry about the development. One worker, who has been at the plant for 24 years, said he blamed the closure on Brexit.

The Remain voter said: 'Perfectly viable car plant operating for 30 years, no problem at all - as soon as Brexit comes along the plant needs investment.

'People like Justin Tomlinson, our MP, campaigned for this Brexit. He wanted Brexit - he gets to carry the can. If he's not unseated by a massive majority at the next election then this town gets what it deserves.'

Asked how he felt about the news, the man replied: 'Pretty hacked off, to be fair.'

Another man leaving the site said staff had not been warned about the announcement. He said: 'Devastated. That's all I can say.'

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it is a 'huge blow' to workers and the wider community, adding: 'The Government's disastrous handling of Brexit is letting people down across the country.'

Alan Tomala, regional officer for the Unite union, and a former employee at the plant between 1995 and 2007, said workers were 'angry, dismayed and worried'.

'If the speculation is to be confirmed, 3,500 jobs are at risk,' Mr Tomala said.

'The usual formula is one job in the plant equates to four in the supply chain and the local economy. If closure is confirmed, it will rip the heart out of this area.'

He said the union represented more than 1,200 workers at the plant, and they had not been told if the reports were correct.

'For employees, our members and the wider workforce, both in the plant and in the supply chain, to hear about this through the media I think is disrespectful and disgraceful,' Mr Tomala said. 'The workforce in there deserve better than that.'

The company employs about 3,500 people at the Swindon plant, building around 160,000 Civics a year, more than 90 per cent of which are exported to Europe and the US.

The news comes a fortnight after Nissan told workers its next-generation X-Trail would be made in Japan and not Sunderland, as planned, despite the Government's so-called sweetheart deal of up to £80 million to protect the firm from higher post-Brexit trade tariffs.

Speaking in September, Ian Howells, senior vice-president of Honda Europe, said the company remained 'right behind' its plant in Swindon and was not considering moving out of the UK after Brexit.

Honda was the first major Japanese car company to get involved in large-scale manufacturing in the UK when it did a deal with British Leyland in 1980 to produce Honda-based models in BL factories. Work began on its plant in Swindon in 1985.

Honda's decision to shut down its Swindon plant shows the whole car industry has stalled, writes RUTH SUTHERLAND - and No Deal fears aren't helping

By RUTH SUTHERLAND FOR THE DAILY MAIL 

Honda’s decision to shut down its plant in Swindon after 30 years as a major local employer may not be directly motivated by Brexit but by wider problems in global car manufacturing.

However, yesterday’s move by the Japanese carmaker could hardly have come at a worse time.

No one in the industry doubts that uncertainty over Brexit is having a chilling effect on production. Fears surrounding our departure helped to halve fresh investment in the sector last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

Nissan has also scaled back UK production by cancelling construction of its new X-Trail SUV at its Sunderland factory

Overseas investors such as Honda have, in the past three decades, rebuilt the British car industry after it was driven to the brink of annihilation in the 1970s by rabid trade union activity. Now they are in flight.

Nissan is cancelling plans to build its new X-Trail SUV at its Sunderland factory. US giant Ford, which employs 13,000 workers in Britain, describes the potential consequences of No Deal as ‘catastrophic’, while the boss of Jaguar Land Rover, which is cutting UK jobs, has issued a string of dire warnings.

Brexiteers will, of course, accuse these firms of crying wolf. Maybe – but that doesn’t mean there are no wolves out there. And it is a tragedy that the very companies which helped to bring about a remarkable renaissance in the British car industry have become the collateral damage in the chaos of our impending departure from the EU.

Jaguar Land Rover, which is cutting UK jobs, has also issued warnings about a no deal Brexit

It is yet one more problem to contend with in a troubled industry that faces plummeting demand for diesel cars, a slump in the vast Chinese market, and fears that Donald Trump may impose punishing tariffs on vehicles imported into the US.

In Germany, a country synonymous with the production of sleek, super-reliable driving machines sold worldwide, the decline in the auto industry is actually stalling the economy.

The industry is also dealing with the lifestyle choices of the Uber generation: city-dwelling, environmentally-conscious young people who are less fixated on car ownership than their parents were.

So a state of emergency would prevail even without Brexit, and the threat of No Deal makes us an even less attractive place to invest in troubled times.

photo link
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/honda-confirms-swindon-factory-closure-with-loss-of-3500-jobs/
News Photo Honda CONFIRMS Swindon factory closure with loss of 3,500 jobs
Advertising
You don’t have to pack away your dress just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!

Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/02/19/01/9978874-0-image-a-1_1550539121029.jpg