Redundancy row breaks out at automotive parts firm

Representatives of Arlington Automotive, which was last week placed into administration, have hit back at claims from a union that the firm is “pushing disabled workers into the gutter”.

The GMB union says that Arlington, which is based in Coventry and Birmingham and also had a site in Derby, is withholding more than £1m in redundancy payments owed to disabled workers.

Arlington Automotive, which makes car parts for Jaguar Land Rover, owes £1.1m in redundancy payments for 52 workers, says GMB.

The union claims that one worker stands to lose more than £56,000 in redundancy pay.

The company has been placed in administration under Duff and Phelps. At least 20 staff members were made redundant over the phone with immediate effect, says the union, claiming that some workers were hearing-impaired, non-verbal or unable to understand what was being explained.

On Monday, the union says “several” hearing-impaired workers turned up for their scheduled shifts having received no communication about their redundancies at all.

Becky Mitchell, GMB Organiser said: “This is some of the lowest behaviour we’ve ever seen from a firm; sacking disabled workers over the phone and then trying to take away their hard-earned redundancy payments.

“Arlington Automotive is pushing disabled workers into the gutter.

“At least 20 members of staff were called and sacked over the phone. HR told our workers to go and claim money off the Government.

“They’re disabled, many of them can’t read or write, how are they going to do that?

“We won’t stand for this despicable treatment of our members, many of whom are disabled and suffer with mental health problems.

“The fact they are choosing to do this mid-pandemic shows you just how little they care for working people.”

A spokesperson for Duff & Phelps told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We have welcomed the dialogue with the GMB throughout this process and the support it is offering its members at this difficult time. The employees have been subject to ongoing consultation processes with the support of the GMB; and employees were all given notice of redundancy prior to our appointment, the Birmingham site itself was no longer operational.

“Arlington Engineered Systems Limited could not continue to trade as all of its customers had stopped placing orders due to Coronavirus. Given the wider backdrop of the difficulties in the automotive sector the business had no option but to appoint Administrators.

“In relation to those made redundant the Joint Administrators took steps to communicate with employees at the earliest opportunity to explain the impact of the Administration on the on-going redundancy process. In doing so, to ensure employees safety the Joint Administrators adhered to government advice around social distancing when considering how to communicate with the employees and recruited a specialist firm in order to notify them and provide them with support in lodging their claims with the Redundancy Payments Service. The Redundancy Payments Service will meet employee claims subject to the statutory limits in place and any residual balances owed to the employees will be claimable in the Administration process.”

Arlington employs around 600 people across sites in Coventry, Newton Aycliffe, Reading, Stourport, Birmingham and Manchester and is a tier one supplier to the automotive industry, counting JLR, Ford and Nissan among its’customer base. The firm’s Derby site has already started closing down.

It is a subsidiary of the Arlington International Group, which includes operations in France, Germany, Brazil, USA, China and joint ventures in India and Turkey – none of which are impacted by the UK restructuring.

Arlington’s two divisions include manufacturing of bespoke thermostats for vehicles and the manufacture and assembly of engineered vehicle systems. The UK Group has grown rapidly with a number of acquisitions in recent years which included a German business last year, the restructuring costs of which have recently placed strain on the UK Group’s cash flows.

Last week, Arlington International chief executive Mark Franckel also commented: “The UK Group has longstanding and deep rooted relationships with its customers and I am confident that the restructured business will be a key supplier to the automotive industry moving forwards, particularly our thermostat technology which is widely used in the rapidly growing Hybrid and Electric Car markets, which utilise a greater number of thermostat products than conventional combustion engine vehicles. We remain excited about the growth potential of these markets and Arlington’s critical position in them.”