23.10.2008

JCB to adopt four day week

JCB employees in the UK have voted to accept a four day - 34 hour week, in order to save around 350 of 500 jobs that were at risk due to a slow down in sales.

Click here to see original report – JCB to cut production by 19%
The GMB union says that JCB shop floor workers had voted for the short time working with a 67 percent majority in favour.

JCB has said the new working schedule would start in November and is expected to last at least six months. The company says that it needs to reduce output in the UK by 19 percent "to align its production with current demand".

The union said that it hoped that office staff would follow the lead of shop floor workers and accept a similar reduction in hours. It added that it was pleased with the outcome as did the company which said that the short time working will lead to a reduced number of redundancies and preserve its skills base for when the markets improve.