What happened to the LDV workers? – appeal for volunteers for study

A new study is set to investigate the fate of the 850 workers who lost their jobs when Midlands-based van manufacturer LDV went into administration in June 2009.

Experts at Coventry University are appealing for volunteers to come forward to help them piece together the stories of former LDV staff and find out what happened to them, how they have got on since, and how the company’s demise impacted on their lives and their families.

The study will be led by Professor David Bailey of the University’s Business School in conjunction with PhD student Tom Dudley, and follows the distinguished work Professor Bailey and his team carried out around the MG Rover workers after the closure of the Longbridge plant in 2005.

Professor Bailey has worked hard to keep the plight of former MG Rover staff in the public eye ever since, and has written and blogged regularly on the need to support manufacturing – including in the case of LDV.

Whilst many of the MG Rover workers did get back into work, a recent study by Coventry and Birmingham universities found that three years on they earned much less on average than they did at MG Rover and felt less positive about their work. The work showed that high quality manufacturing jobs matter.

When LDV went into administration it was much more difficult for its former workers to find employment given the state of the economy, and when Professor Bailey and his team contacted around 20 ex-LDV workers in early 2010, most – perhaps unsurprisingly – were still without work.

But the recent ‘mini renaissance’ of the automotive industry may have opened up opportunities for ex-LDV workers in the region. The study is hoping to explore how these workers have fared in the job market, whether they’ve retrained, and whether they’ve had help along the way.

Professor Bailey is now looking for volunteers to interview over the telephone – all results will be anonymised and nobody’s details will be made public.

Anyone willing to talk to Professor Bailey is being encouraged to call 07768725027 or email LDVstudy.bes@coventry.ac.uk, leaving their name and number for the team to call back.

For further information, please contact Alex Roache, external press and media relations officer, Coventry University, on +44 (0)24 7679 5050 or email alex.roache@coventry.ac.uk.