Auto industry supply chain is collapsing day by day, warns JLR chief
genuinely needs. That money will be too little, too late. We need access to credit just to pay the bills. This is truthfully, genuinely, about survival.”
Mr Woodley said JLR needed half a billion pounds immediately. “Talk and fine words are cheap - we need action and action now, otherwise we will not be here to survive this.
“We need direct funding for our workers - tens of thousands are already on short-time working. We need cash and we need cash now in order to pay the wages that we need to survive.
“There are over one million jobs that are directly or indirectly concerned with our future here.”
Professor David Bailey of Birmingham Business School said: “We are facing an unprecedented situation. Without further action, we will see another 30,000 to 40,000 job losses.
“We are facing a double whammy of the recession and the credit crunch and the car industry deserves Government support.”
He said the Mandelson package did not go far enough. “It is a good first step but it does not go far enough.
“Not enough has been done. The amount of money involved is small beer - we do not have months.”
The summit came as unions and management prepared for a resumption of talks tomorrow over further cost-cutting to avoid a potential further 1,000 plus job losses at JLR.
