Nissan moves to save jobs as sales fall

Dec 5 2008 by William Green, The Journal

THE Government is working with car manufacturer Nissan to save jobs as the company partially suspends work at its Sunderland plant.

The talks are focusing on providing extra training for Nissan workers to make effective use of time when production lines are temporary closed in response to sliding sales.

The move could keep staff in work and comes after North MPs pressed ministers to help Nissan, which directly employs 5,000 people and is estimated to support another 8,000 jobs in the region.

The firm is stopping production of Qashqai vehicles on Fridays for three weeks from today, as industry figures show a 40% drop in sales of Nissan cars in November compared to the same time last year.

Existing four-day working on the Micra and Note production line is also being extended to December.

The future of 400 temporary workers is uncertain as well, although Nissan has insisted it is not expecting any effect on permanent staff.

And last night, it confirmed it had been in talks with Government agency the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) about support for staff to gain new vocational qualifications on non-production days.

Under the scheme, Nissan workers could gain BTecs and NVQs in subjects such as business improvement techniques and environmental sustainability.

Chris Roberts, regional director LSC North East, said it was working closely with Nissan and Gateshead College to put together a training package that would assist the firm to improve its competitiveness and efficiency. The news comes after the company sold 2,928 cars last month compared to 4,895 in November 2007, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

And after rising sales in the European market, sales of Nissan vehicles dropped by 5% over the same period.

In the UK, overall car sales dropped by 36.8% between this November and last November to 100,333 vehicles after seven months of sliding sales as the recession bites – with November seeing the steepest fall since June 1980.

Fraser Kemp, MP for Houghton and Washington East, said it was an extremely difficult time for car companies globally but insisted Nissan was comparatively in a better position.

“As I understand, no permanent jobs are affected and I know the Government is working hard with the company to use any downtime effectively to do additional training with the workforce,” he said.

The Labour MP added that other car manufacturers had laid off a large number of workers and Nissan was monitoring the market closely, but ensuring any halts in production were used with Government support to assist in training. Blaydon MP Dave Anderson said: “If we can help and if it will keep people in work, we should explore options and sit down with the car companies.”

Ross Smith, head of policy at the North East Chamber of Commerce, said Nissan was an important part of the regional economy and everything must be done to support it.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said the falls in car sales were unprecedented, although it could be partly down to consumers putting off sales until the Government’s decision to cut VAT from 17.5% to 15% came into force this month.

But it warned that the VAT cut would have little impact and called for the Government to ensure car manufacturers and automotive component firms had access to short-term loans to see them through the economic downturn.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said it held ongoing discussions with car companies and was in regular contact with Nissan.