UK manufacturing being 'massacred', union leader claims

British manufacturing was being “massacred”, a senior union leader claimed today as workers at car giant Vauxhall were waiting to be told that up to 1,000 jobs are to be axed.

Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union accused the British government of not having a plan to support manufacturing “champions” as happened in other European countries, including France and Germany.

Mr Woodley was at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant on Merseyside to meet company bosses about the latest jobs blow to the UK car industry.

Unions were braced for an announcement that one of the three shifts at the plant will be axed, cutting almost a third of the workforce.

Chancellor Gordon Brown and Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling will visit the factory shortly after the announcement is made to stress Government support for the car industry.

Mr Woodley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that quality manufacturing jobs were being lost at the rate of 100,000 a year and being replaced by temporary or agency work, often at minimum wage rates.

“Manufacturing is being massacred. If manufacturing matters to this country then the government has got to have a plan to support manufacturing.

“You don’t see the same losses in Germany, Italy or France because they protect their manufacturing. We have no plan to support our companies,”

Mr Woodley complained that the UK’s labour laws allowed “opportunistic” bosses to make redundancies because UK workers were “quicker, easier and cheaper” to sack.

“The most important thing is that we support manufacturing. We should consider putting public money into these companies and look at energy costs which are crippling firms.”

Union officials at Ellesmere Port were meeting managers today, with the company expected to make an announcement about the job cuts later.