Diversified conglomerate Tatas are expected to cut as many as 5,000 jobs at their steel and auto subsidiaries in the United Kingdom — Corus and Jaguar Land Rover — in the coming weeks.
About 3,500 jobs are anticipated to go at Corus this week itself, while Jaguar Land Rover is expected to see another 1,500 layoffs in the coming weeks, The Sunday Times has reported.
“Britain’s largest steel maker Corus is poised to cut up to 3,500 jobs this week in one of the biggest blows yet to the faltering manufacturing sector. Further large-scale job losses are expected within weeks, with Jaguar Land Rover understood to be considering another 1,500 layoffs,” the newspaper said.
Tata group firm Tata Steel had purchased Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for about £6.7 billion in 2007.
Another group entity Tata Motors snapped up luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover last year for more than $2 billion from American auto major Ford. Meanwhile, the report noted that job cuts at Corus are likely to “overshadow this week’s announcement by Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, of aid for the car industry”.
The UK government is expected to come up with assistance to boost the country’s car industry, which is hit by the economic downturn. “It is understood that the planned job cuts (at Corus) will come across the company’s 23,000-strong British workforce, and are not expected to lead to the closure of any large sites,” the report said.
Quoting one industry insider, the Sunday Times said, “This is not about site closure. This is about making Corus in the UK competitive”. The slump has been caused by the paralysis gripping two of steel makers’ main markets, construction and car manufacturing.
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Steel prices, which had been driven to record highs by a strong demand from China, have more than halved during the last year. Corus’s steel making operations are at Port Talbot, Scunthorpe and Teesside, with steel processing at sites in South Wales, Scotland and the Midlands.
“This is not about site closure. This is about making Corus in the UK competitive,” the report quoted one industry insider.