The GMB is holding a march and rally in Birmingham on Saturday 22 May to lobby Government on the decline of manufacturing in the West Midlands. The rally, jointly hosted by the T&G, will culminate in Centenary Square.

More than 3000 jobs in the manufacturing sector have been lost so far this year in the West Midlands, according to the latest survey produced for the GMB.

General Secretary Kevin Curran commented: “UK manufacturing is in crisis as the outsourcing phenomenon continues to drain jobs and livelihoods from our heartlands. We have the skills, capacity and experience here to keep these jobs. All we need is the determination from CEOs and the Government to ensure that our manufacturing sector can thrive. We can’t continue to fail to deal with the underlying issues such as isolated training and apprenticeships, failure to adopt the euro and a lack of commitment from Government and CEO’s to halt the outsourcing phenomenon and promote British workers. Without which, manufacturing will continue to crumble and weaken the entire UK economy.”