JLR added in its own statement: “This is an important move to further identify the challenges businesses are facing following the recent cyber incident at JLR.”
The attack on 1 September has left JLR incapacitated. It has led to production shutdowns at all of JLR’s global plants, created issues with parts ordering and stifled retailers.
The effect could be costing JLR up to £5 million a day, business economics professor David Bailey told Autocar last week.
Since the cyber attack, the majority of JLR’s employees have been off work, with lost hours being banked.
Union Unite said on Wednesday that employees within the supply chain are being told to apply for Universal Credit as they are moved onto reduced or zero-hours contracts by employers battling to stay afloat.
Earlier reports suggested that some suppliers “will go bust” as a result of the ongoing issues at JLR.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the union has written to the UK government demanding it set up a furlough scheme to take the pressure off suppliers by supplementing workers’ pay packets while they’re unable to do their jobs.
“Workers in the JLR supply chain must not be made to pay the price for the cyber attack,” said Graham. “It is the government’s responsibility to protect jobs and industries that are a vital part of the economy.”
Graham cited a similar scheme set up on 15 September by the Scottish government to support bus maker Alexander Dennis and said “a similar scheme for workers in the JLR supply chain [should be set up] now”.
JLR suppliers ‘could go bankrupt’
Recent reports have claimed that some of the firm’s suppliers could go bust as a result of the shutdowns.
Former Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer told the BBC on 12 September: “I would not be at all surprised to see bankruptcies.”Â
