Hundreds of jobs could be axed by West Midlands-based GKN, which revealed today it was looking to cut staff and shut down plants.
GKN, which employs around 5,000 people across the UK, reckon it is to take what it described as “strong” action to offset an expected plunge in profits as demand continues to weaken.
The group is based in Redditch and has about 2,500 staff in its UK automotive operations, with a major plant in Telford and two other factories in Birmingham.
Many of the workers at the Telford Hadley Castle plant have historically travelled from the Black Country and Staffordshire to work every day, although the number of people employed there has fallen in recent years.
The Telford manufacturing plant makes parts for a number of major vehicle manufacturers, including Land Rover and Ford, which have been hit hard by the current economic downturn.
It is not clear how many of GKN’s automotive workforce will be affected, but a spokesman said the group would be looking to take action “across the board.”
He added: “We are now finalising plans to reposition our business to deliver acceptable profitability and cash generation through this difficult period.”
The firm have revealed that full-year pre-tax profits would also suffer as a result of a downturn in car and van sales, now expected to be around a fifth lower than in 2007.
Shares in GKN plummeted by more than 20 per cent in early trading with the profits warning.
The group, which at its peak had operations across the West Midlands, added sales in the automotive division were now expected to be around 15 per cent lower in the fourth quarter year-on-year.
But it has stated its 2,500 strong UK aerospace division was largely unaffected by the job cuts, adding that the division “remains robust”.
12 Comments
OMG more job losses, will this country ever be right
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To be honest, GKN losing a few jobs could be a good thing. There’s too much reliance on outdated manufacturing jobs. Also too many people commute from the black country to telford. Maybe it will make them try and find a local job instead of stealing them from Telford folk
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To be honest, GKN losing a few jobs could be a good thing. There’s too much reliance on outdated manufacturing jobs. Also too many people commute from the black country to telford. Maybe it will make them try and find a local job instead of stealing them from Telford folk
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Terry - without manufacturing who’s going to create the wealth? How can ‘losing a few jobs’ possibly ever be a good thing?
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more jobs going the problem is you cannot give your house away in this property crash era and it will not improve for at least 5 years welcome to negative equity bloody mortages !!!!!
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TERRY TIBBS !!!!
when as losing jobs ever been a good thing ?
Terry i have worked with loads of guys from Telford and Bilston when UPF went bump and GKN moved in we here at Thompson Chassis new what was going to happen, the job was going to end up in Telford, AND IT DID …the guys who do travel from Bilston to Telford everyday have as much right to work in Telford as anyone !!
And as for too many people commute from the black country to Telford.
IF GKN DID NOT ROB OUR CONTRACT WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO TRAVLE TO TELFORD!
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Terry.Tibbs
I’m pleased you are no friend of mine, how could you think it is a good thing for people to lose their jobs. You might find that the people that work for GKN in Telford were made redundant from GKN sites and were offered relocation for their jobs. I hope you never have to go thru the pain and stress of being made redundant. Think before you post comments!!
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Terry,
What on earth are you on? Outdated manufacturing jobs? What do you think GKN do make wheels for hand carts or screws still? GKN is the world leader in providing more than 40% of cv joints for the world market thats around 30 million cars a year are made with GKN driveshafts. This is not the case of ‘outdated’ manufacturing, GKN is a high tech engineering group.
Unfortunately the credit crunch effects peoples ability or desire to make large purchases such as cars, household goods and even foreign holidays. The outcome is that companies globally will cut make creating a domino effect. This is not just about people in Telford or the black country this will be a world issue. I work in Asia and we here are seeing a global downturn in business, this may be just a start of very difficult times and days ahead.
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Bilston was wiped out with loss of manufacturing jobs Terry - how can that be a good thing? It is because of these losses, Britain is no longer the manufacturing Country it once was. We are now the dumping ground for the world.
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Mr Tibbs, you obviously have certain psychological issues that need addressing. Great Britain was built on Manufacturing, and will continue to be. The government need to realise the importance of manufacturing in this country. Mr Tibbs are you a politician ?
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mr tibbs, i can only assume you are a worker that is paid by salary and have a job that is secure, and do not have a family or mortgage. gkn, took over upf and made everyone redundant so what choice did the workers have but to relocate to telford. we had our first child a week before the redundancies, what were we meant to do exactly.?You sound like an ignorant twit and need to look at the bigger picture, or is your vision so narrow that its impossible to see beyond the end of your nose?How am i supposed to put food in my childrens mouths if there is no money coming into the house? this is the most ignorant post i have seen in a long time,maybe you are actually one of the management at gkn? hmmmmm?
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we at gkn telford are being treating terribly by gkn. With the suspension of build at land rover comes lay offs and while the rover lads and girls are being paid a percentage of their wage to help them through this extraordinary time !! gkn cant be bothered to tell us the facts we have to read confirmation in our local paper!! and as for the lay offs we have to borrow money from gkn to cover our lay off and pay back at an hour per week!! we now have the propect of another lengthy lay off (one month) with no money at all!! is this the caring company we joined when we came to gkn??? the people that came from bilston paid up to 10,000 pounds for their job in telford with the promise of a job for 12 years and the prospect of working for an established caring company i think not!! The lads in Telford and the poles that share our jobs should stop bickering with each other and pull together with the people from the black country, we are all in the same boat and a very shaky one it is. All i can say is, thank god for the Express and Starr at least through them we are certain our christmas will be bleak and not put off with the old potato “we will confirm when you return to work”… bless you all and i hope you and your family at least make this christmas happy despite the doubts that plauge us.
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