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| JCB announces 400 more job cuts | JCB announces 400 more job cuts |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Digger-maker JCB has said it is cutting nearly 400 more jobs. | Digger-maker JCB has said it is cutting nearly 400 more jobs. |
| The redundancies, made up of 297 shop floor jobs and 101 staff posts, are being blamed on "extreme deterioration in business levels and confidence". | |
| Last month the firm, based in Rocester, Staffordshire, revealed it needed to cut its shop floor workforce by 510 at its UK factories. | Last month the firm, based in Rocester, Staffordshire, revealed it needed to cut its shop floor workforce by 510 at its UK factories. |
| That figure was reduced by 332 after GMB union members voted in favour of a shorter and lower-paid working week. | |
| About 2,500 of the union's members in the UK accepted a 34-hour week by a two-thirds majority. | |
| The level of business we are doing out in the markets right around the world has dropped very dramatically JCB chief executive Matthew Taylor | |
| The latest cuts have come as JCB said it was reducing production at its UK factories by 34% for the last two months of the year. | |
| The revised output levels will be maintained into the first quarter of 2009. | |
| The company said that the latest cuts had been made because of reduced confidence leading to a "significant reduction in incoming orders". | |
| The company said previously-buoyant markets had been particularly affected, including those in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. | |
| JCB chief executive Matthew Taylor said: "The level of business we are doing out in the markets right around the world has dropped very dramatically after the torrid financial times in September." | |
| Union members briefed | |
| When asked if there would be any more redundancies in the future, he replied: "Not at the current level of business. | |
| "If it gets even worse than that then, at the end of the day, we will have to take another hard look at that." | |
| JCB explained that it had chosen to keep on 336 shop floor employees, who would otherwise have been at risk of redundancy as a result of the reduced production levels in the first quarter of 2009. | |
| The company also said it reciprocated the support shown by employees in voting for a 34-hour week to save colleagues' jobs. | |
| Keith Hodgson, from the GMB union, said: "Members are being briefed and we will release a further statement in the morning." |