{"id":29728,"date":"2021-08-10T16:29:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T15:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=29728"},"modified":"2021-08-10T16:29:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T15:29:24","slug":"fight-tooth-and-nail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=29728","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Fight tooth and nail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Workers at the GKN Automotive factory on Chester Road in Birmingham, owned by venture capitalists Melrose, are being balloted for strike action after the company confirmed its intention to close the factory.<\/p>\n

Despite the factory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s critical importance to the electrification of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s automotive industry giving it a positive and profitable future, the company is pressing ahead with plans to close it by 2022 for\u00c2\u00a0‘short term profit hikes’.<\/p>\n

In May, company bosses rejected an alternative business proposal put forward by a\u00c2\u00a0coalition of GKN\u00c2\u00a0workers, the factory’s senior management, Unite officials and local politicians, including MP Jack Dromey.<\/p>\n

GKN has also refused to meet with ministers, despite the government making clear it will provide significant assistance to ensure the Birmingham plant is a success.<\/p>\n

In response to the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued insistence that the work will be moved abroad, Unite will be balloting its members at the factory, which employs 500 people and produces car drivelines, for strike action.<\/p>\n

The ballot will open next\u00c2\u00a0Monday (16\u00c2\u00a0August)\u00c2\u00a0and close on\u00c2\u00a031\u00c2\u00a0August.<\/p>\n

Unite national officer Des Quinn said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen Melrose bought GKN in 2018, there were howls of protest when fears were raised that the new owners could asset strip the company.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMelrose’s current actions will make many people believe their assurances to GKN’s shareholders that the opposite was true were empty words.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMelrose has every opportunity to keep this factory open, including a viable alternative business model, promises of support from government and a crucial role to play in the electrification of the auto industry.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is certainly not the actions of a company that\u00c2\u00a0vowed, when taking over GKN, to establish a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098UK manufacturing powerhouse\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bInstead, it looks like the actions of a company committed to short term profit hikes at the expense of business longevity and\u00c2\u00a0sustainability.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMelrose can bet their bottom dollar that our members will fight tooth and nail to prevent this factory being sacrificed to the whims of the market and they have the full support of their union behind them.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

By Ryan Fletcher <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers at the GKN Automotive factory on Chester Road in Birmingham, owned by venture capitalists Melrose, are being balloted for strike action after the company confirmed its intention to close the factory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[624,55,88],"wps_subtitle":"GKN Birmingham workers\u00c2\u00a0balloted for strike\u00c2\u00a0as battle to save factory intensifies \u00c2\u00a0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29728"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29730,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728\/revisions\/29730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}