Thousands unite to demand more help for struggling manufacturers

Published on Saturday 16 May 2009 19:53

THOUSANDS of workers staged a protest march yesterday to urge the government to do more to help the country's struggling manufacturing industry.

Former Confederation of British Industry (CBI) boss Lord Digby Jones was among the crowd at the Birmingham demonstration, organised as part of a campaign by the union Unite.

More than 7,000 people took part in the rally, including workers from recession-hit firms such as steel giant Corus and car companies Vauxhall and Jaguar Land Rover.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, told the crowds in the city's Centenary Square: "Our message today is that it's no good bailing out the banks if you are not looking after the workers, their jobs and their homes."

The March for Jobs follows another grim week, with BT and Legal & General announcing thousands of job cuts and unemployment figures showing a 244,000 increase to 2.2 million.

Former trade minister Lord Jones said saving the country's manufacturing industry should be the government's "number one priority", and added: "If we do not make a stand now then the jobs will go for ever.

People, real people, are saying, 'stop talking about your moats and flatscreen TVs and deal with the real issue.'"

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber warned: "Unemployment will pass the 2.5 million mark next month and could hit three million by the end of the year."

Manufacturing has been one of the worst-hit sectors in the recession, with redundancies more than doubling in the first three months of 2009 to 67,000, up from 29,000 in January-March 2008.