A union that fights for the rights of employees in the workplace has suggested that it supports any company which attempts to keep hold of its skilled workforce.

Unite was commenting in light of proposals voted on by Jaguar Land Rover workers which saw them retain their jobs by agreeing to a shorter working week and no pay rises for a year.

The union was involved in the proposal and a spokeswoman said that as long as employees were guaranteed they could keep their jobs, they would back measures designed to help them achieve that.

Commenting on the positive effect that the deal has had on the automotive industry, the spokeswoman said: "We would say that anything that keeps skills in place ready for any upturn is a very welcome move. It’s a critical thing. We do not want to haemorrhage skills from this sector; as we saw with Rover, when you lose skills, they don’t come back again."

On March 5th, Unite stated that workers at Jaguar Land Rover had voted in favour of plans issued by their unions Unite and the GMB to cut their working week to just four days and introduce a pay freeze.