º£½ÇÊÓÆµ

Oops.

Our website is temporarily unavailable in your location.

We are working hard to get it back online.

PRIVACY
Manufacturing

GKN Automotive workers in Birmingham in strike action ballot

Members of the Unite trade union could hold a ballot for full industrial action over plans to close driveline factory

Workers at a GKN Automotive plant in Birmingham could take strike action later this summer over the company's proposals to shut the site, potentially axing more than 500 jobs.

The engineering and manufacturing group announced in January that it had launched a consultation with staff over the future of the factory in Erdington which makes driveline systems for cars.

The proposal is part of plans to move some of these services overseas, with the factory set to shut in summer 2022 if it goes ahead.

Now, members of the Unite trade union are poised to hold a ballot for full industrial action following a recent consultative ballot in which the workforce "overwhelmingly voted" in favour of striking.

Earlier this year, a joint consultative committee put forward an alternative business proposal for the Chester Road site, which the union says is critical for the successful electrification of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ's automotive industry, but this was

Any strike action would take place later in the summer, if members voted for it, Unite said.

It added that the union and staff were "highly dismayed" initial government promises of support to ensure the factory remained open had so far amounted to nothing.