GKN plant closure revealed

Unite has today (April 5) demanded an urgent meeting with Melrose bosses after news emerged of plans to close GKN’s King’s Norton plant by March 2021 with the loss of over 200 jobs.

Unite described news of the planned closure of the facility, which makes canopies and windows for military and civilian planes, as coming ‘totally out of the blue’ and warned that it flew it the face of assurances Melrose bosses had given to the UK government during the hostile takeover of GKN last year.

“This announcement has come totally out of the blue for GKN’s world class King’s Norton workforce who have worked hard to make GKN a success,” commented Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy.

“Melrose has serious questions to answer about its commitment to retaining work in the UK and keeping the promises it made to the UK government during its hostile takeover of GKN.

“Unite has real fears that this announcement is the prelude to concerns we voiced – about asset stripping and UK operations being run down during Melrose’s hostile takeover of GKN – being realised.

“Early next week Unite will be convening an urgent summit of all of its GKN representatives where we will be discussing our next steps,” he said.

He added, “Unite is demanding an urgent meeting with senior Melrose bosses and will be scrutinising the business case for these plans, which appear to fly in the face of assurances given around keeping military aerospace manufacturing in the UK.”