Jaguar Land Rover Supply Chain Workers Must Get Covid-style Support, Says Union

The UK's chief automotive workers' union is calling on the government to establish a Covid-esque furlough scheme for the thousands of individuals who face losing their jobs due to the cyber-related downtime at Jaguar Land Rover.

Unite said it's already received reports that layoffs have begun for some workers across JLR's supply chain. Those employed directly by JLR are thought to be less at risk of redundancy than those across the automaker's extensive list of external suppliers.

"The government needs to defend jobs when our industries are under attack," said Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite.

"Many UK workers in small and medium automotive manufacturers are already facing insecurity because of the low volume crisis in the sector. Thousands of these workers in the JLR supply chain now find their jobs are under an immediate threat because of the cyberattack."

Furlough schemes were common during the earlier months of the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing companies to retain staff while the government covered up to 80 percent of their salaries, with a £2,500 ($3,395) monthly cap.

Many companies enrolled in the scheme. Some used the government support to keep staff on full pay while they were not working "on furlough," although plenty of others kept staff on a lower wage.

A government review of the furlough scheme concluded that it saved around 4 million jobs, and around 250,000 organizations would have gone bankrupt without the additional support.

It is understood that Jaguar Land Rover indirectly supports at least 100,000 jobs – likely more – across its various suppliers. 

TCS-owned JLR said it halted assembly lines across its factories globally on September 2. With the attack cleanup soon to enter week three of downtime, the costs associated with the disruption are mounting for all parties involved.

The costs for any organization experiencing extended periods of downtime are high, but for a business that produces around 1,000 cars per day, across sites in the UK, China, India, and Slovakia, the impact is devastating.

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According to economists speaking to the BBC, JLR is likely shouldering costs between £5 million and £10 million (c $6-13 million) for every day it remains on lockdown, meaning the potential losses – so far – are in the £65 million to £130 million ($88-176 million) region.

The last official update from JLR came on September 10, revealing that "some data has been affected" in the attack.

"Since we became aware of the cyber incident, we have been working around the clock, alongside third‑party cybersecurity specialists, to restart our global applications in a controlled and safe manner."

It added: "We are very sorry for the continued disruption this incident is causing and we will continue to update as the investigation progresses." ®