Company blames ‘significant reduction’ in orders for job cuts despite staff compromise over working hours to save hundreds of jobs last month.
JCB yesterday announced that it is reducing production at UK factories for the last two months of the year by 34% and 'maintaining those revised output levels into the first quarter of 2009'.

As a result, 297 factory workers and 101 office staff will lose their jobs. The news follows an announcement by the company last month that it needed to cut its shopfloor workforce by 510 at UK factories. This figure was reduced to 178, saving 332 jobs, after employees agreed to a shorter working week from 39 hours to 34, and a £50 weekly pay cut.

JCB explained that the need for further redundancies was, due to 'the extreme deterioration in business levels and confidence around the world leading to a significant reduction in in-coming orders'.

The company has also seen a sharp drop in orders from what it described as 'previously buoyant markets' in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe.

JCB chief executive officer Matthew Taylor said: "Our employees voted last month to save 332 of their colleagues' jobs, which was commendable. In turn JCB is now supporting their decision as much as possible by retailing 336 people who ordinarily would have been made redundant."

He added: "All job losses are regrettable but we have jointly saved 668 jobs from more than 1,240 that would have otherwise have been at risk."