Ball now in Tata Motors' court to tie up deal: Union

04 January 2008

Roger Maddison, national secretary, Unite, the Jaguar-Land Rover union, said they are quite excited about the future of Jaguar-Land Rover with Tata Motors as the new owner. “Just complexities like the price and things like that will have to be ironed out now. Ford will now open all its books so that Tata can actually finish their due diligence. It will be then that they negotiate some sort of price.“ CNBC-TV18 shares with domain-b

You were backing the Tata's from many months. I imagine your response to these statements from both these companies is very positive. What do think are the complexities likely to be as both these companies work to bring this transaction to a close over the next few weeks?
First, I would like to say it is a very good move. We are going to have a partnership with Tata. We already have a partnership with them at Corus Steel and Tetley Tea. We are quite excited about the future of Jaguar-Land Rover with Tata as the new owner. I am sure now that they will be.

Just complexities like the price and things like that will have to be ironed out now. Ford will now open all its books so that Tatas can actually finish their due diligence. It will be then that they negotiate some sort of price.

Now with that along the way, the trade unions would want to meet with the Tatas as well. We would want to make sure that we have got all agreements on commitments, pension, and job security in place. We have to make sure that all our plants survive a takeover from Tata.

We are pretty convinced and hopeful that will be the case. We know Ford wants to raise money as quickly as can be, so the ball is in Tatas' court now to tie-up the deal as quickly as they want to.

The pension commitments are also being taken care off by the Pension Regulation in the UK and the regulatory authority will ensure that Tatas bring enough money on the table to meet with whatever pension deficit there is in both companies' pension funds. But you mentioned job security and I guess this is the time when you will put your demands finally on the table. You have been telling us all these months that you don't have any demands when it comes to layoffs or shutdowns but I understand the severance cost for the Tata Group would be very high if they do take these two brands over and do look at streamlining operations. What is your take on that?

Yes. But the two brands put together will make a profit this year in excess of a billion dollars. It is not as if it is a company that is in turmoil. It is not a company that is in trouble.