When financial storms hit Cherry Blossom Way, the north-east knows that recession is serious, and there was nothing in the way of optimism in the region this evening.
Nissan workers heading home down the approach road to the company's Sunderland plant were uniformly despondent but not surprised that layoffs had reached their own assembly lines.
Cherry Blossom took its first hit when Unipres car components announced on Tuesday that 96 full-time and 200 short-contract jobs were to go by the end of the month. The firm supplies Nissan, just a little further up the road, and there were immediate rumours that the cutbacks would spread.
Few workers wanted to roll down their windows to talk on a chilly evening, but one contract worker described the mood at the car plant as shocked and glum. "The atmosphere inside is very unstable," he said. "The announcement doesn't really affect me but it's a shame about the lads being paid off."
Nissan has been part of the north-east's "big economy" for more than 20 years but retains the potency it gained when the plant came to the rescue of the shattered regional economy in 1986, complete with a ceremonial opening by the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Japanese working practices and intense corporate loyalty have been copied by other firms and Nissan's ups and downs – mostly ups, including the plant's 5 millionth car last June – have been seen as a regional barometer.
Unions at the plant were ready for bad news after an unexpectedly early Christmas shutdown and the sending home earlier in December of staff from two assembly lines on full pay. Convenors and management are already discussing details of how – or if – jobs can be lost without damaging a craft base for the eventual return of prosperity.
"It is absolutely crucial that these workers' skills are not lost," said Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of the Unite union. "We will be doing everything possible to minimise compulsory redundancies." Efforts will concentrate on the 800 full-time posts due to be cut.
Workers going off shift emphasised the need to keep a skills base by pointing out that 800 staff had been taken on a year ago to meet demand for the five-door Qashqai hatchback. They formed a new, third shift, which is now being discontinued.
The company's announcement also recognised market volatility by saying that the shift could be reinstated this spring. An emergency group to help redundant car workers meets for the first time this morning, chaired by Alan Clarke, chief executive of the regional development agency One North East.
He said that Nissan staff, whose work has included driving lessons to familiarise visiting executives with roundabouts, which are all but unknown in Japan, had a name for "dedication, hard work and skill which has created one of the world's most productive car plants". The agency has also been reassured that work would start as planned next year at Sunderland on a new compact car, a project costing £55m, including £6.2m from the British government.
