Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Aston Martin
Aston Martin workers vote to strike
Workers at Aston Martin's Gaydon plant voted yesterday to go on strike due to discrepancies in pay for workers performing the same job. The proposed two-year contract would have increased worker pay by four-percent in the first year, followed by another .5%, plus inflation, during the second year. Not quite what the workers had hoped for, especially considering that certain laborers were getting paid a £2,500 premium for doing the exact same task.Although over 70-percent of the Transport and General Workers' Union members voted in favor of the strike, negotiations will likely continue in order to resolve the matter before anyone actually lays down their tools. It looks like Aston's new owners are getting a crash course in worker management earlier than they expected.
[Source: BBC News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gardiner Westbound 3:19PM (3/31/2007)
Fifty years ago England was one of the world's great car manufacturers. Its output exceeded Germany, Italy and Japan combined. The British labor unions destroyed it.
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DPC car videos 3:32PM (3/31/2007)
Amazing that such a historical and prestigious car company has so many problems. At the end some big car company will buy Aston for pennies because of all the undesirable press they are getting lately. Aston Martins are awesome cars and its a shame to see this happening.
http://www.dpccars.com
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Doug 5:34PM (3/31/2007)
1.)I'm not sure what the bad press is they are getting. Other than this I have seen nothing but good press for AM.
2.)
"The British labor unions destroyed it."
Just as the UAW is killing the American auto industry.
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Hamud 6:08PM (3/31/2007)
It happens all the time in all kind of companies, people think that just cause they perform the same job they should get paid equally. How would you fell having worked for 5 year for the same company and then someone gets hired to do the same work you do and he gets the same ammount you do?
There are many levels in the same ocuppation. Think of it like a building with many floors and a stair to go from one to another. Many people may be in the same floor, but not all of them will be in the same step of the stair.
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Ian 7:02PM (3/31/2007)
Hamud,
Happens all the time Mate!
I wonder if the Union would agree to roll the pay down to that of the lower paid guy doing the same job? Surely they don't think the pay should automatically go up? I am amazed that the UK can produce anything given the expense of labor in that country. These Unions should be most careful. The Kuwaiti owners like the brand AM, but I doubt they care whether the product is manufactured in the UK or say USA, or shock China.
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Bryan 8:00PM (3/31/2007)
Maybe Ford had other reasons for selling the company off..this might be one of them!
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big L 9:14AM (4/01/2007)
6. You are prob right...perhaps ford bailed.
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carysott 9:57AM (4/01/2007)
Point of fact just as the UAW didn't force the big three to build inferior product and complacently ignore R&D neither did the British unions - unions don't control product deveploment. Perhaps if management had been committed to investing in their business rather than lining their pockets they would not have been producing the record profits which led the UAW or other unions to demand a little piece of the pie. For those of you who actually work, salaries are usually tiered to account for seniority.
While many unions have not been able to keep step with the contemporary marketplace others while still representing the workers now work with management to promote the industry they all work in. The hostility which continues to exist between management and unions in some undustries is perpetuated by both sides.
Get some historical perspective! Without the union movement labour conditions in this country would be appalling. Crippling legacy costs are the result of management's greed - unions can only negotiate what mangement will concede to - mangement was compelled to concede because they couldn't hide the fact that they were financially raping their own companies which is what really crippled the big 3.
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Ric 1:19PM (4/16/2007)
I wonder if people remember things like this when buying used AM's in a few years. Will people later say: "that car was built too close to the date when workers in AM were thretening to strike" or "right after the strike". Would it be a mistake to buy an AM that's being built now?
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The Plug 6:30AM (5/09/2007)
As a retired worker of AML I can sympahise with the workers who are threatning industrial action. When I left recently, even after my many years of service, I was working next to a guy who had been brought over from Jaguar after they closed the plant who was on £3000 more a year than me! This was not a one off. Why should he get £3000 more than me, with all the benefits that entails, I.E, pension, higher wage rises etc.
We were doing the same job! As for buying a car made before or after a strike, long gone are the days when quality was a priority at AML. It's "Q" for quantity now. They have a large workforce and overheads are enormous. The only way to pay all this is bang the cars out. If people could see the crap that leaves that factory, nobody would buy one.
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