Pirelli Carlisle Employees Working 20% Less Until April

It appears that workers at Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle are facing a further reduction to their workload. According to the local News & Star newspaper, a new arrangement begins on February 9, under which employees that normally work 40 hours in the week will be asked to work only 32 per week until April 1. An official statement on the issue is still being approved by the company’s head office in Milan, Italy, the paper added.

“The reduction in hours will create hardship amongst the workforce but everybody can see that if people aren’t buying cars, the demand for tyres drops off,” Carlisle MP Eric Martlew told the News & Star. “Pirelli in Carlisle is an excellent, efficient factory and the company has invested millions over the years.

“What we need to do now is get through this period of economic downturn and once the world economy picks up again, people will start buying cars and the demand for tyres will increase,” Martlew added. “The Carlisle factory has gone from making standard tyres to high quality ones and the workforce has adapted to that and the company has invested capital to support that change.”