Unite Leader Vows to Fight GKN Job Cuts

LONDON, February 24 --

    
    Workplace visit by Derek Simpson
    When: 11am, Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
    Where: GKN Hardy Spicer, Chester Road, Erdington, B24 0RD

Unite Joint General Secretary, Derek Simpson, will visit workers at motor components company GKN tomorrow (Wednesday, 25th) to reassure them that the union is doing everything in its power to avoid the proposed closures.

Workers at GKN have vowed to fight the company's decision to close two sites in Birmingham and Walsall and make hundreds of redundancies.

On the February 17th, the engineering group confirmed it would cut 564 jobs in the UK. GKN's forge facility at Hamstead near Birmingham will close by the end of the year and its car parts facility in Walsall will close by the middle of 2010, with the loss of 323 jobs. Other jobs will go across other parts of the company.

Unite joint general secretary, Derek Simpson, said:

"The workers have vowed to fight these closures and they can rest assured that their union, Unite, will be doing everything in its power to support them.

"There are genuine alternatives to the number of job cuts the company is currently proposing and expect GKN to give the union's plans serious consideration."

Senior union representative working at GKN claim that workers in the UK are bearing the brunt of the European job cuts because UK workers are cheaper and easier to sack than workers from other countries in Europe.

After the visit at GKN, Derek Simpson will also visit Unite representatives at Cadbury in Birmingham.

For further information contact Ashraf Choudhury in the Unite press office on +44-(0)20-7420-8914 or +44-(0)7980-224761.