Ford and Tata’s Jag/Landie Negotiations: Stumble, Trip; Stumble, Trip

To paraphrase the Bard, "there's many a slip between the cup and the transfer of over a billion dollars into a bank account." TTAC has been studiously avoiding all those "Tata Motors about to complete Jag and Landie sale" stories filling our competitors' columns. Just as a week is a long time in politics, "soon" is a meaningless term in corporate buy-outs. And now comes word from the Times of India that Ford's U.K. unions are part of FoMoCo's problem, not its solution. Apparently, the unions are unhappy about "issues of job security and retaining production capacity in England." Although Ford has steadfastly refused to retain a stake in Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR), union leaders are pressing Ford to extract long-term commitments for their services re: production of engines, axles and other major components. The Times reports that Ford is "independently negotiating" continued support to Tata Motors post purchase. "When contacted, a senior Ford official insisted that the sale process of JLR was independent of the talks with the Unions." In other words, this one's still set to run and run…