Workers at Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant have voted against strike action.

In the joint union ballot that closed yesterday, 453 (44.94%) T&G, Amicus and GMB members at Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant voted in favour of taking strike action - 555 voted against (55.06%).

The unions have run a joint campaign opposing the end of car production at Browns Lane, the historic home of Jaguar cars. Ford made the closure announcement without consultation with the unions, and they say it was in breach of an agreement saying that the West Midlands Jaguar plants were safe.

Tony Murphy, Amicus' national officer for the automotive industry, says: "Obviously we are disappointed with the result but people have been offered a lot of money to take the redundancy package and are concerned that may be withdrawn. The joint unions will keep pushing the company to reconsider their decision and we will continue pushing the government for a change in the law that will help defend UK manufacturing jobs."