What a surprise! GKN vultures break promise

Year after takeover, factory to close as ‘jobs go abroad’

ALMOST 200 jobs are under threat at GKN just a year after the engineering giant was seized by corporate raiders.

The company’s new owner Melrose was last night accused of ‘a breach of faith’ after plans to close a factory in King’s Norton, Birmingham, were revealed.

Workers were told the site, which makes windows and canopies for military and civilian aircraft, would be gradually shut down by 2021. Bosses also said jobs could be moved abroad to ‘low cost areas’, it is understood.

It has sparked fresh fears for GKN’s operations in the UK, after critics previously warned Melrose’s takeover could lead to a wave of closures and fire sales.

The company, which goes by the motto ‘ buy, improve, sell’, bought GKN for £8.1 billion after a battle over the firm’s future with the previous management.

Melrose insisted it was not involved in the decision to close the Birmingham factory, saying it was taken by GKN managers. However, it came just days after the asset stripper told investors of its plans to squeeze more profits out of GKN by pushing through brutal cost savings. MPs and unions said the closure ‘flew in the face’ of pledges made before the takeover.

At the time, Melrose promised not to sell GKN’s aerospace division for five years and to pump investment into the 260-year-old group. But yesterday Labour’s Jack Dromey, MP for Birmingham Erdington, said there were fears British jobs would be moved to factories abroad. He said: ‘Workers are devastated by this announcement – they are now being sold down the river.’

Fellow Labour MP Richard Burden added: ‘Barely a year has passed since Melrose were falling over themselves to tell everybody how committed they were to UK manufacturing, but their words ring hollow today.’

Union leaders said they were seeking urgent talks with Melrose over the factory closure plans. Rhys McCarthy, of Unite, said: ‘ This has come totally out of the blue for the world-class King’s Norton workforce who have worked hard to make GKN a success.’

A GKN spokesman said: ‘Having carried out a thorough assessment of our King’s Norton site, we have regrettably concluded it does not have a long-term, sustainable future within the business.’