German logistics company DHL plans to cut as many as 2,200 jobs at Jaguar Land Rover's UK factories, the Unite trade union said.
The job cuts comprise just under 40 percent of the entire DHL workforce on the company's contract with JLR, the union said on Tuesday.
DHL indicated that the half of the job cuts are due to a decline in car production and half are the result of anticipated "efficiency savings," the union said.
A DHL spokesperson said: "We are now in consultation with our employees and their representatives and will make every effort to redeploy as many colleagues as possible to our other operations nationwide.”
The agency workers at risk are employed at JLR plants in Castle Bromwich, Ellesmere Port, Halewood, Hams Hall, Midpoint, Solihull and Tyrefort, the BBC reported. They are employed working to deliver parts to warehouses and production lines and also transport completed vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement that it was informed by DHL that the logistics company had entered into a consultation with some of its workers last month.
"Jaguar Land Rover is taking action to optimize performance and achieve further operational efficiencies to enable sustainable growth and safeguard the long-term success of our business," the company said in its statement.
Last month, JLR's parent company Tata Motors said it expected to shed about 1,100 temporary jobs at Jaguar Land Rover after it raised the cost-cutting target at its luxury unit by 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) to ride out the disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
Bloomberg contributed to this report
