Unions can't ban Bedford's kanban
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• When Bedford's 1,700 workers returned to the Luton van factory this week, they ' found Japanese-style "kanban" working practices waiting for them — despite the fact that the company has not yet reached an agreement with the Transport and General Workers Union.
The changes became apparent the moment the manual workers walked through the door. No-one clocks on anymore and the sub-assembly line has been moved into the body shop. Other changes that the management intend to introduce include more worker and job flexibility with people working as teams not individuals, a simplified pay structure; a company council for collective bargaining; an arbitration system to make strikes less likely and more use of temporary workers.
The TGWU says that it does not expect the whole package of changes to come on stream for at least the next two months. Next week, says Luton convener Tom Conway, the TGWU's joint national officials will discuss the union's response to the impasse, after which there will be a mass meeting of the plant's TGWU membership. Mick Murphy, the TGWU's national automotive officer, will address the meeting and explain why he is the only remaining national union official to have refused to sign the agreement. The four unions which have signed the deal so far are the AEU, EETPU, TASS and ASTMS.
Paul Tosch, chief executive of General Motor's commercial vehicles division, is taking a conciliatory line and has said that the company remains confident that the TGWU's objections can be resolved. Bedford, however, is adamant that it does not want to talk to any of the unions individually — it insists that it will stick to group discussions.
Bedford's workforce voted to accept the far-reaching job changes by a slim margin of 785 to 609. The company is still seeking some 450 voluntary redundancies to trim its staffing levels to the optimum size before introducing the new working practices.
If things go according to plan, however, Bedford plans to introduce double shifts within 18 months and ultimately to double its annual production rates from 18,000 vans a year to 40,000. This could involve 600 new jobs and take the factory back to profitability by early 1988.