A row over a water cooler at Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) Halewood car plant led to workers walking out.
A team working for services company DHL refused to start their shift at the plant yesterday morning after discovering that the water coolers in their section were empty. They left the job and sat in the canteen until supplies were replenished. DHL spokesman Simon Maris told the ECHO shortly after the incident: “Due to the recent warm weather, the drinking water in the water coolers in one area of the plant ran out this morning, ahead of the usual delivery at lunchtime.
“We contacted the supplier and brought forward the delivery by two hours to replenish the water supply to operators.”
He added: “The operators sat in the canteen for half an hour while this happened and returned to work once the water supply was restored.”
JLR declined to comment, on the grounds that the problem was with DHL and not with their operations. The company also insisted that the DHL team’s actions had no effect on vehicle production within the plant.
Whilst some have criticised the workers’ actions as extreme, The Water Cooler Company feel they show how important access to fresh drinking water is to people, and their actions highlight how vital is that this access is upheld at all times.
