DHL Supply Chain job cull threat is "massive, bitter blow", says Unite

Nearly 40% of the entire workforce on DHL Supply Chain’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) contract are at risk of losing their jobs, the Unite union has warned.

It said 2,200 staff are being told they could lose their jobs, in what it described as “a massive, bitter blow”.

Unite said the cuts will fall across full-time, salaried and agency staff at JLR’s major factories in the North West and the West Midlands, including Castle Bromwich, Ellesmere Port, Halewood, Hams Hall, Midpoint, Solihull and Tyrefort.

DHL has not given any firm dates about when the redundancy process will be completed but Unite said it had indicated that half of the job losses are a result of a decline in car production and half are a result of efficiency savings.

Matt Draper, Unite national officer for logistics said: “This is a massive, bitter blow for a dedicated workforce - and on the eve of the chancellor's speech underscores the urgency of need for jobs-saving action from the government.

“Again, while governments in Spain, France and Germany are acting swiftly to secure a future for their car manufacturers, we see no such ambition from the UK government and as a result jobs are going.”

A DHL Supply Chain spokeswoman said the decision to “restructure our linefeed and freight operations” on the JLR contract came in light of “highly challenging trading conditions in the global automotive sector and the unprecedented impact of the Coronavirus pandemic".

She said: “This is in line with future volume forecasts and forms part of the optimisation and efficiency initiatives that have been driven by both organisations in recent months.

“We are now in consultation with our employees and their representatives and will make every effort to redeploy as many colleagues as possible to our other operations nationwide.

“We would like to thank our colleagues for their understanding at this extremely difficult time and stress that this proposal is based solely on the commercial challenges affecting the global automotive sector, and in no way reflects on the service levels delivered on the contract in recent years.”

Unite added that it would ensure the eventual number of job losses would be kept to a minimum.