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Can you give me an example of human resource management at the company?

LTI's manufacturing is carried out in Coventry. The firm employs nearly 200 people at the site. The pressure on the firm to boost production, cut costs and boost sales could be expected to cause alarm amongst workers. Why? Well, any thoughts of cost cutting are likely to impact badly on current employees. This is especially so given LTI's efforts to supply its main target export markets through licensing arrangements with vehicle manufacturers in Mexico and China.

One might imagine that LTI's new strategic direction would unsettle existing staff and so it proved. In January 2004, staff at the Coventry factory walked out in a dispute over pay. The company were offering a 2.9% pay rise - some way from the 4% demanded by their employees. Production was halted for a fortnight before the company gave in to the staff's demands and agreed a 4% deal.

The readiness of the company to make peace with its workers, who were represented by the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), provokes a number of questions:

• Was the cost of lost production greater than the cost of the settlement?
• Are LTI worried that they could not replace the skills of workers at the Coventry plant?
• How much longer will LTI remain in the UK, if they can locate production elsewhere, at far lower cost?

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