Union calls for meeting over GKN closure plans

THE country’s biggest union has demanded an urgent meeting with bosses at GKN Automotive’s Birmingham plant to hammer out a rescue plan for the doomed business.

Unite and the company’s 519 workforce, who are all at risk, are still struggling to grasp the logic behind the closure, announced last week.

A spokesman for Unite said: “The factory, which employs a highly skilled workforce, is extremely viable. It is understood that if the factory closes the work will be transferred to factories in Europe.”

Based in Chester Road, Erdington, the plant produces drivelines for JLR and other car companies.

In 2018, GKN was bought by investment firm Melrose for £8.1 billion. That takeover was fiercely opposed by Birmingham’s Labour MP Jack Dromey who fought to block the deal.

Unite has now called for a meeting to hammer out a blueprint to save the Birmingham business.

Des Quinn, the Unite

union’s national officer, said: “The workforce have been left shocked and angry to learn that management is looking to close this highly viable site. Unite is now seeking urgent meetings with senior management at GKN to understand the business case and the logic behind this decision.”

GKN’s plant in nearby Minworth and engineering centre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, will continue to operate. So will its offices in Birmingham, London and Uxbridge.

GKN Automotive CEO Liam Butterworth said: “Sadly, an increasingly competitive global market means that the site is no longer viable. This is despite significant effort and investment over the past 10 years to reduce the site’s high operating costs and make it competitive.

“We expect this proposal to impact 519 employees. The proposal envisages that GKN Automotive will carefully wind down the site over 18 months to ensure an orderly and stable transition of operations and give those affected time to find new work. The proposal is to transfer production to other sites in our network.”

But Professor Alex de Ruyter, who authored the Brexit: UK Auto, Rail

and Aerospace – understanding logistics and supply chain report in January 2020, said Brexit will have been part of GKN’s thinking.

He said: “Brexit will have had an impact on the decision, regardless of the company’s official reason of “an increasingly competitive global market. With trade between the UK and EU now subject to raft of extra checks and paperwork, resulting in increased costs, evidence appears to suggest that EU-based firms are already beginning to cancel contracts with UK-based suppliers.

“GKN is an important supplier in the UK automotive industry, supplying driveline components for every Jaguar model, for example, and it also works closely with Nissan.

“The announcement is yet another dark cloud over the future of UK automotive supply chain, even after Nissan’s recent commitment in the short-term at least to production in Sunderland.”

Mr Dromey said his fears over the Melrose takeover had been realised.

He said: “Despite all the warm words by Melrose in 2018 to protect the future prosperity of GKN and its British workforce, the cold reality three years on is that one of GKN’s finest plants now faces closure.

“Melrose promised a bright future to GKN’s employees – a promise they have now broken. This announcement is completely unexpected by employees at GKN.

“Government Minister’s also have a responsibility to act after promises they made at the time.”