Union leaders yesterday described Ford's decision to halt car production at Jaguar's Coventry plant as "the economics of the madhouse" and warned that job losses could be much higher than the 1,150 originally announced.
Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport & General Workers' Union, told MPs on the all-party trade and industry committee that the figure was likely to be about 2,000.
Last night Jaguar dismissed the union's figure as "incorrect and misleading".
In his evidence to MPs, Mr Woodley contrasted the estimated £78m cost of switching car production from Browns Lane in Coventry to Castle Bromwich with the £80m he said Jaguar had received from the government since 1995. "If I was a cynic I might say that taxpayers are footing the bill for the closure of this plant."
Last night Jaguar, which will submit evidence to the committee at a later hearing, hit back at the union's claims. Sticking to its original figure of 1,150 job losses, it said: "There are no other incremental redundancies as part of this programme and therefore the figure of 2,000 ... is incorrect."
It acknowledged that the company was sustaining "very heavy losses" and that Jaguar could "no longer afford to run three separate factories able to produce 200,000 cars a year when we are selling 125,000".
But it said all those wanting to stay at Jaguar would do so. "Anyone who wants to leave is doing so willingly and with generous separation terms."
Mr Woodley told MPs that Jaguar was "hawking" Browns Lane veneer-manufacturing centre, which employs about 350 people, around Europe and that other jobs would go at Castle Bromwich.
Tony Murphy, Amicus's national officer for the automotive industry, said the unions were also concerned that one of Ford's design and development centres in the UK was set for closure.
He said that during negotiations a "slip of the tongue" by one Ford executive indicated that one R&D centre would go. Unions fear the Whitley centre is the most likely to be closed.
Jaguar responded by ruling out a closure of either the Whitley R&D centre or the veneer facility. The latter would stay on the Browns Lane site while Whitley "remains at the heart of Jaguar's operations and will play an even more important role in design and engineering Jaguar's product future."
The unions also criticised Jaguar for getting its sales projections wrong and ignoring the popularity in Europe of diesel models in Jaguar's market. "They would have done better to have employed Mystic Meg," said Mr Woodley.
He called Browns Lane "highly successful, highly productive and efficient". Switching plants was "the economics of the madhouse".
Asked why Ford had made the decision if the business case had not been made, Mr Woodley said Ford's share price was under pressure. "They had to do something and closing a plant in Britain or anywhere else in Europe allows a feel-good factor for shareholders and Wall Street."
