Freeze Your Pay, Keep Your Job.

As the see-saw tilts back and forth between workers’ rights and unemployment, a new plan emerges.

This just in: thousands of workers at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are currently being urged to accept a pay freeze effective for one year and be reduced to a four-day work week. In return, they’ll see no “non-compulsory” job losses for the next two years.

This is about the best deal they could agree upon, as a company spokesman said: "We have had a number of constructive meetings with the unions to reach this agreement. The unions recognize the severity of the situation and the need to take action to achieve further cost reductions while avoiding further redundancies."

Workers at the company's sites, including Castle Bromwich and Solihull in the West Midlands and Halewood on Merseyside, will vote in the coming week on the proposed deal, which is aimed at saving up to £70 million in costs.

Dave Osborne, national officer of Unite, said: "We have now outlined the details of the framework agreement to shop stewards across Jaguar Land Rover. They overwhelmingly supported the recommendation from the negotiating committee that this document should go to our members with a recommendation that it is accepted. The agreement includes a shorter working week for manufacturing, with a two-hour reduction in production and a one-hour reduction in pay. It will be a four-day week in manufacturing areas."

In tough times like these, having shortened responsibilities is better than having no responsibilities at all. Maybe American companies and unions could take a lesson from this type of open and honest bargaining.