West Midlands crisis summit after thousands of jobs are lost

SOME of the West Midlands’ biggest employers are set to attend a crisis summit after the region lost a reported 8,000 jobs in a week.

The Unite union said urgent action was needed with thousands of families facing the “devastation” of losing a main wage.

Talks were due be held today (Thursday) after a string of job cuts at employers including Boots, John Lewis and agency roles at JLR.

This week it was announced that

Birmingham’s Symphony and Town Halls were shedding roles as the economic fallout from the coronavirus epidemic continues to bite.

The West Midlands TUC will host the summit where mayor Andy Street, MPs and major local employers will agree an action plan in an attempt to stop the losses gathering pace as the Government’s jobs retention scheme ends later this year.

Unite’s regional secretary, Annmarie Kilcline, said the last week had been “devastating”. “At least 8,000 families – probably a great many more – were plunged into economic uncertainty and probable hardship as they were told that their jobs were going. Unite is determined that we pull together as a region to defend jobs and to stop this tide becoming a tsunami that will sweep through our communities this summer.

“The summit should see a plan for urgent action take shape as we bring together the region’s political and business leaders to develop a common plan to build back better.

“This region is blessed with the skills and expertise that we need to come out of this crisis in a fit shape, with an economy that will support decent jobs and step up to the climate change challenge, but we need action now to defend them.

“By working as an alliance of workers, politicians and employers, we are intending to make Westminster look again at how it must support the country’s second city.

“It was bitterly disappointing that last week the Chancellor in his statement did not make any mention of support for the industries that are the pillars of our regional economy, such as the automotive sector. These industries support hundreds of thousands of direct jobs and thousands more in their supply chains across the West Midlands and they urgently need assistance now to continue to do so.

“One of our core demands as regional leaders has to be to appeal to the Chancellor to think again on industrial support packages and to do so before it is too late for the people of the West Midlands.”