A TOP union negotiator has told BMW bosses at the Cowley Mini plant that 850 sacked agency workers should be paid financial compensation – and that either the agencies or BMW should pay up.

Dave Osborne, Unite’s national secretary for the automotive sector, met management on Friday.

And on Tuesday evening Chris Bond, chairman of the Unite branch at the Cowley plant, was also negotiating for financial compensation.

Mr Osborne told bosses that any employees due to lose their jobs this week should not be treated in the same “disgraceful” way in which workers on the week-end shift were given their marching orders – with an hour’s notice.

A spokesman for Unite, Pauline Doyle, said: “He told them that ‘a clear and proper process should be in place for those workers coming back this week.’ “Our top priority now is to try and negotiate some sort of financial compensation for the sacked workers.”

This week workers are learning exactly which of them are to be made redundant, and which are to be among the 126 still being retained.

BMW spokesman Rebecca Baxter would not comment on the substance of the talks, saying only: “We can confirm that a meeting took place between Unite union representatives and the company. The discussions were constructive and are part of an ongoing, open dialogue.”

Ms Doyle said: “Some of these people have worked at the plant for more than seven years and we are telling BMW that it is wrong that they should simply be told to go without any payment at all.

“We are working hard to get them compensation but don’t want to raise anyone’s hopes.”

Some of the Cowley workers may have some rights to redundancy but those rights are a matter of legal argument Employment expert Duncan Bain, an associate solicitor at Botley solicitors Morgan Cole, said: “It’s purely subject to contract.

“It is possible but depends on how the contract is worded.”

A spokesman for the Government’s Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory reform said staff on employment contracts at agencies do get redundancy pay in line with legislation if the agency cannot assign them to new work.

A spokesman for Manpower, which employed most of the sacked workers at BMW, said: “We are meeting those staff affected on a one-to-one basis to answer their questions and to explore alternative job opportunities.

“We realise this is a difficult and uncertain period for all involved and can assure you we are working hard to support our staff during this time.”

ghamilton@oxfordmail.co.uk