Tata Motors to bag Jaguar, Land Rover by early March

According to Dave Osborne, national secretary for the union, the "members' long-term future is best served by Tata." The Unite union represents about 12,000 workers at Land Rover and Jaguar factories.

Tata Motors, which had outbid Mahindra & Mahindra and One Equity with a $2 billion-plus offer, has assured the union officials that it will continue to source engines and other components manufactured at Ford's British manufacturing facilities which are in south Wales and Dagenham in London and that there will be no layoffs.

"We do believe that Tata Motors, in the event of a sale...offers the best alternative for our people in the UK," Osborne said. "It's a cash-rich company. It's got experience in manufacturing in the automotive industry. It's got a substantial presence in other industries in the U.K."

"They (Tata) totally ruled out offloading Jaguar or building Land Rovers in India," Osborne said, adding that Tata has agreed to keep employment in the UK around the current 15,300.

According to Osborne, Tata has also agreed to stick with the Jaguar-Land Rover business plan through 2011. After that, the Indian automaker has expressed interest in growing the company and even adding workers in the UK, he said.

"The manufacturing footprint will remain unaltered," he said. "The engineering and design studios will remain. There's no plans outside of the business plan to source any more components from low-cost economies."

Osborne said Tata is confident in the British automakers, despite challenges of meeting new carbon dioxide emissions standards in Europe. There is growth potential in emerging markets, he said.

"There seems to be a relative air of confidence from the company rather than talk about reductions in employment levels post-2012," he said.

According to Roger Maddison, national officer of Unite, "the sooner everything goes through, the better," as "the workforces are beginning to get anxious."