Thousands of employees of Jaguar Land Rover wrote to its parent company Tata Group on Tuesday, warning against its decision to sell its Tata Steel ventures in the United Kingdom, and said "it wasn't the responsible thing to do", reported PTI. Unite, a trade union that has 1.4 million members in the UK and Ireland, said they have asked Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry to sell the company as a whole to a credible buyer as against a "fire sale". Tata Motors bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2008 and formed JLR.

“We are extremely concerned for our brothers and sisters working in the UK steel industry,” the union said in the letter. Unite decided to write the letter following a meeting between UK Business Secretary Sajid Javid and its leaders, as well as representatives of other unions Community and GMB. At the meeting, the workers demanded government action. Javid is scheduled to meet Mistry in Mumbai on Wednesday to discuss the sale process.

On March 30, Tata Steel said it was looking to sell its entire business in the UK owing to heavy losses, nearly ten years after it entered the British market. The British steel industry has been languishing for the past 12 months. The move could affect nearly 15,000 British workers.