Mini jobs go

Mini is the latest manufacturer to be cutting staff. BMW has confirmed that 850 people will lose their jobs from the Cowley plant in Oxford after dropping sales as a result of the financial crisis.

Up until now Mini seemed to be riding out the storm, posting better results than other, harder hit manufacturers. In 2008 sales rose by 4.3 per cent, while parent company BMW’s fell by the same percentage. However the current market, which BMW described as ‘volatile’, has led to weekend shifts at the plant being dropped, and the agency workers who did them being released.

That means 850 people, while the company has also identified 150 surplus workers at the Mini plant in Swindon. These employees will be offered a transfer to Oxford, however.

Manufacturing restarts at Cowley a week today, February 23, while the new five-day week kicks-in on March 2, when the job cuts come into force too. The Mini Crossman, the next version of BMW’s small car, is due to be produced at Magna Steyr in Austria making it the first non-UK Mini. That decision will be seen in a new light by those affected at Oxford.