Workers at the Ford plant at Dagenham in Essex look set to move toward a ballot for strike action following the breakdown of talks over the companies proposed plans to relocate assembly operations to other sites.
The full story has been reported by the BBC, ITN, Excite and Ananova.
The announcement of Fords change of use of the Dagenham site came last month. They now intend to use the site for the production of diesel engines and the manufacture of body panels, but all vehicle assembly operations are expected to cease. Unions have been trying to persuade Ford of the viability of the Dagenham operations since then. Their failure means that 2,000 jobs are likely to be cut in addition to 1,500 jobs to go thios summer when single shift working will be brought in.
The production of Ford's new models in Europe will be transferred to Germany, despite the UK being Ford's largest market.
"We are extremely disappointed that Ford are not prepared to honour agreements and treat Britain and British workers as fairly and even-handedly as other Ford workers in Europe," said Tony Woodley, the Transport and General Worker's Union's chief negotiator.
