Honda Resumes Production at U.K. Plant After 4-Month Shutdown

TOKYO : June 1, 2009 - Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second- largest carmaker, will resume production today at its U.K. plant after a four-month shut-down.


The workers at the factory, in Swindon, southern England, have agreed to a 3 percent pay cut until March 2010, said spokeswoman Akemi Ando by phone today. Managers have also agreed to a 5 percent pay reduction, she said.

The plant reopens as originally planned, not because of a recovery in demand, Ando said. Production was cut to one shift from two in December, and will remain at that level, she said. U.K. car sales plunged 24 percent in April, the 12th consecutive monthly decline.

A voluntary early retirement plan cut the number of workers at the plant by 1,300 from 3,500 workers, she said.

A car-scrapping incentive plan, which pays people to junk old autos and buy new ones, has attracted more than 35,000 purchases since it was revealed April 22, U.K. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said in a statement on May 29.

[Source : Bloomberg]