Unite Wales has reacted with deep concern at proposals to axe over 200 jobs at the landmark Aston Martin automotive site in the Vale of Glamorgan. The scale of the proposed job losses is extremely concerning and raises serious questions regarding Aston Martins employment practices and its wider commitment to South Wales.

The announcement has come from both Aston Martin themselves and their contingent workforce provider Millbank (Priory Design Services Ltd). Aston Martin are proposing the loss of 95 jobs whilst Millbank is proposing a further 100 plus.

Peter Hughes, Unite Wales Regional Secretary commented:

“Our members working at Aston Martin will be very concerned regarding their long term futures tonight. The potential loss of over 200 jobs represents a huge chunk of the total workforce. We are calling upon Aston Martin to step back from these proposals and work with Unite and Welsh Government to find an alternative path forward.

"We are engaged in a formal consultation on behalf of our members with a view to avoiding or reducing the impact of the redundancies across the entire workforce. Unite has been concerned for some time as to the creation of a two tier workforce at the site. We have been challenging Aston Martin over the last 12 Months over what we see as immoral and unethical employment practices adopted by Millbank in the employment of their contingent workers, who have been paid £8,321 less per year than an Aston Martin  production worker.

"Aston Martin is a brand that prides itself on its reputation and has been heavily financially assisted by Welsh Government to locate at St Athan. We expect the company to therefore act in a way that is both ethical and in the spirit of social partnership that we advocate in Wales.

"We understand that the company’s new leadership team headed up by Lawrence Stroll is looking to realign the business to deliver future success. This process however cannot simply be a hatchet job on workers’ jobs and terms and conditions. 

"Unite is prepared to work with the new leadership in Aston Martin to improve the performance of the business, providing it acts ethically and delivers highly skilled, well paid jobs and long term employment security for our members.  We will be challenging and scrutinising these drastic proposals to get the best possible outcome for our members employed at Aston Martin, St Athan”.

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For further information please contact Glyn Conolly on ‪07974 131771