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/ Manual workers at Bedford's Luton van plant have voted tcy accept revised management proposals for new working practices at the plant, opening the way to an autumn launch of the Bedford/Isuzu joint company (CM 2 May).
The vote, by 789 to 605 in favour of the proposals, gives Bedford management the backing from the workforce that it has been seeking for its proposed joint venture with Isuzu, and removes most of the doubt over the future of the van plant.
National and local union officials had advised against acceptance of the proposals, but agreed to put the proposals to Bedford workers under a secret ballot. On three previous occasions at mass meetings the manual workforce rejected the management's earlier proposals.
The new proposals differ in a number of important respects, most notably on the question of arbitration. In future any disputes will go through the conciliation process and, if no agreement is reached, unions and management will decide whether to put the problem to arbitration and to what form that arbitration should take.
Management had previously insisted that the arbitration should be binding, and that the arbitrator should be required to choose either the management's or the union's proposals.
Though the agreement on arbitration falls short of the management's original proposals, a company spokesman insists the new agreement makes strikes unnecessary.
A second important factor in the workforce's acceptance of the proposals is the offer of a one-off cash payment of £500 to each of the estimated 1,300 workers who will be employed at the plant once the joint venture with Isuzu gets underway. Bedford says the payment is in recognition of the problems facing the workforce during the transition of the company to new ownership.
In the next few days local union officials are expected to sign a formal agreement with the management, covering the working practices and terms and conditions changes agreed to by the workforce.
The way will then be set for the launch of a new Bedford/ Isuzu company operating at the plant and producing vans for Britain and mainland Europe. No decision has yet been made about the name of the new company, and there is no indication yet about the products to be produced at the plant. Most observers agree that the ageing CF van will cease production, but the Japanese-inspired Midi and Rascal vans will continue.
Bedford currently produces the Rascal van under licence from Suzuki, both under its own badge and under the Suzuki badge. This relationship is expected to continue under the joint Bedford/Isuzu company.
ID In the half year to April Isuzu suffered a £53 million pre-tax loss as the result of the strength of the yen and weaker than expected sales of small commercial vehicles, particularly in China. This compares with a pre-tax profit in the previous full year of £18 million.