Strike warning to DAF workers as 1,600 jobs go

THE RECEIVERS of Leyland DAF announced more than 1,600 job losses last night and warned that all 5,500 jobs at the truck and van manufacturer would be threatened if the workforce went on strike, writes Michael Harrison.

The warning followed the decision by workers at the Leyland truck factory in Lancashire to ballot on strike action. The result of the ballot is due today.

In a letter to all employees, Murdoch McKillop of Arthur Andersen, one of the joint administrative receivers, said the job losses were essential if any of the business was to be saved. 'The only future for Leyland DAF is a slimmed down operation.'

Unions said they had decided to call the strike vote because of lack of consultation by the receivers. However, there is also a growing bitterness among the workforce at the way DAF's UK operations have apparently been cut adrift by the banks and the Government and the wide discrepancy in redundancy terms on offer to UK and Dutch employees.

The job losses will be spread across Leyland DAF's five plants in Lancashire, Birmingham, Glasgow and Oxfordshire, where production again failed to resume because of lack of component supplies.

Bitter resignation, page 22