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Axial negotiates to save Ford deal
Page 7
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by Karen Miles • The jobs of 400 drivers at Axial, the car distribution operation that Tibbett & Britten had threatened to close, appear safer this week after breakthroughs in talks with the unions.
Axial says negotiations with the Transport and General Workers Union are going well. "People have taken on board the need for us to increase the profitability of the business and are looking at ways of doing this," says Tibbett & Britten group personnel director Ken Butt.
Talks revolve around "improving the efficiency of the motor fleet and ways of attacking the cost base," says Butt, as well as trying to improve the terms of the Ford contract.
In September, Tibbett Britten management threatened to pull out of the Ford work unless Axial dramatically improved its finances, It is expected to lose .flOm this year, a loss blamed on inflexible labour agreements, computer problems and a contract with the car manufacturer that failed to safeguard the operator from changeable car volumes.
The warning threatened 400 Axial car transporter drivers and 350 other staff working on the distribution of up to 350,000 cars a year. Axial's other contracts with Jaguar, VAG, Peugeot, Honda, Nissan and Daewoo are unaffected.